Santa Maria del Conxo Monastery and Tower of Hercules

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 1. Santa Maria del Conxo Monastery

   Conxo sits on the southern edge of Santiago de Compostela, in the green hollows that surround the pilgrim city, and its monastery has a history that is quieter and sadder than the cathedral's. The old religious house was repurposed in the nineteenth century as a psychiatric hospital, one of the first of its kind in Galicia, and it spent much of the modern era in that role. The complex sits among trees and low stone walls, and what you notice most is how calm and shut away it feels, only a couple of kilometres from the crowds around the Obradoiro square.

   Read the complete Santa Maria del Conxo Monastery write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Santa Maria del Conxo Monastery is where the day begins. Next is Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes.

2. 2. Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes

   Pilgrims walking the Camino del Norte toward Santiago reach Sobrado dos Monxes tired and footsore, and the sight of the huge granite Baroque façade of the monastery, rising out of a quiet Galician village, must feel like a miracle. Sobrado was founded as a monastery in the tenth century, became Cistercian in the twelfth, and grew into one of the most powerful abbeys in Galicia. After the dissolution of the monasteries in the nineteenth century, it fell into ruin, until Cistercian monks returned in the 1950s and began restoring it. Today they run a pilgrim hostel in part of the buildings.

   Read the complete Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes comes up about 59 km into the recorded legs. Next is Tower of Hercules.

3. 3. Tower of Hercules

   On a rocky headland at the edge of A Coruña, a city of about two hundred and fifty thousand people on the north-west corner of Spain, stands a grey stone tower nearly fifty-five metres tall. It is the Tower of Hercules, and it is the oldest Roman lighthouse in the world still in use, which makes it a good deal older than almost anything else that works in Europe. UNESCO inscribed it in 2009.

   Read the complete Tower of Hercules write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 124 km into the recorded legs you reach Tower of Hercules. Next is back through Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes.

4. 4. back through Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Monaster de Sobrado Dos Monxes, late in the day. Next is Santa Maria del Conxo Monastery.

5. 5. Santa Maria del Conxo Monastery

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Santa Maria del Conxo Monastery write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Back at Santa Maria del Conxo Monastery. That is the ride.