Hiking the Camino de Santiago: Days of Discovery in Galicia, Spain

In April 2025 I took a six day hiking adventure with my eldest and two great friends. Six days of solid walking, climbing around, braving some serious rain, beachcombing, and watching out for werewolves! We hiked over 150 km, collectively gained some blisters and lost a few toenails, ate more ham sandwiches than I ever imagined, and had an incredible time.

There are a lot of choices when hiking the camino – which routes to take, how long and far to go (some people we met had been hiking for months), whether to camp, and whether to carry your belongings with you. We didn’t have 3 months of vacation, I hate camping, and not a single one of us wanted to carry our bags, so we opted to use Caminoways – they brought our luggage from hotel to hotel, all booked in advance. It worked out great.

Day 1 Muxia to Santa Estevo de Lires

This was our first day and we accidently took the more intense route to start, which was so beautiful but which we eventually had to ditch, or we’d still be on that hike today. But what views! Even on day 1 it rained a bit, but were well-prepared. If you walk the camino, you will be rained on. Bring rain gear.

Day 2: Estevo de Lires to Fisterra (Finisterre)

On day 2 we discovered the “toxo”, a very pretty and very thorny yellow flowering plant. Painful.

We also made it to Fisterra, a wonderful town with a lighthouse and a big destination for camino pilgrims. We had a great meal and tried barnacles.

Day 3: Fisterra to Cee

Day 3 started out with some beachcombing, where we searched for the perfect seashell souvenirs – the scallop shell is a symbol of the camino, hikers wear one to designate their status as pilgrims.

We also saw quite a few Galician hórreos, once (and sometimes, still) used to store grain and other crops for the winter, to keep them dry and safe. Hórreos have been in use in the area for many centuries, with the first known reference of them dating back to a 12th-century book of poems.

Day 4: Cee to Mazaricos

On the fourth day we entered werewolf country, where stories of Romasanta, or “the sacamantecas” (sacauntos in Galician) abound. This was also by far our rainiest day, where we braved high winds and sideways rain. We could only laugh since there was nowhere to go except through. That night we had to dry all our shoes on the radiator.

Day 5: Mazaricos to Negreira

This was a day of big skies and sunshine, well-deserved after the rainy day before. It was a delightful, though very long, day. We walked about 32 kms (20 miles). That night back at the hotel we chilled and stretched a lot.

Day 6: Negreira to Santiago de Compostela – the END!

What a feeling! Reaching Santiago was exhilarating. We went immediately to the cathedral then to the pilgrim’s office to get our certificates. This turned out to be more complicated than expected because apparently we had the “wrong” pilgrim booklets where we stamped our progress. How that could possibly matter, since it was clear we had stamps for the route, was unclear, but we all eventually got our certificates.

We immediately began brainstorming where we could multi-day hike next. Lucky for us, there are camino routes throughout Europe; lots to explore!

Eating Along the Camino Route

Its not an exaggeration to say a vegan would be hard-pressed to eat well on the camino – there’s not many options in these rather remote villages. We ate Bocadillo de Jamón (ham sandwiches) almost every day since that was often the only item on the menu and frankly, they really hit the spot.

Some other fun foods – we tried barnacles, which look like little dinosaur feet, we ordered red wine at a restaurant and got a crema de licor bottle filled with the village’s locally produced red, we tried the traditional pilgrim cake, “tarta de Santiago”, and ate endlessly delicious and fresh seafood, including scallops I think I still fantasize about.

The local wine is Albariño, and we tried a variety of them. Really crisp and great with seafood. Almost everywhere you stop for food, the cafe or restaurant will also give you a little snack – in some cases a bowl of soup or a pastry. It felt like a wonderful little surprise each time.

Mostly, what I remember about this trip is that everywhere we turned there was something beautiful to see, even during the pouring rain. We spent 10+ hours a day in nature, and it felt so refreshing.

The camino is very doable for many, but if you want to try, choose your travel companions wisely – optimism and a positive outlook, even when you’re a little lost, hungry, in need of a toilet, or being hailed on (that happened, too), really helps to keep everyone laughing. And bring band-aids.