Stage 1. Ponferrada – Carucedo (20 km)

Information

The first stage of the Northern Route takes us from Ponferrada to Carucedo where we will enter the immensity of the region of El Bierzo, approaching one of the most representative places of the passage of the Romans through the Iberian Peninsula: Las Médulas. For its part, the small village of Carucedo, in the province of Bierzo, will offer us the possibility of enjoying its beautiful ecological environment thanks to its lake, which arose as a result of the gold mining of Las Médulas.

This stage is part of the French Way. Would you like to walk it with your accommodation already booked? These organised trips include it: Winter Way.

You leave Ponferrada crossing the Boeza and climb Mount Pajariel to enter the prettiest part of El Bierzo. You pass Toral de Merayo, Villalibre — with its Romanesque chapel of La Vera Cruz — and Santalla, whose viewpoint hands you the whole valley. Then the chapel of the Virgen del Carmen and Borrenes leave you in Carucedo, a step away from the reddish landscape of Las Médulas.