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Day 40 | 6 October 2025 | Walking the Camino Francés
From Palas de Rei to Ribadiso de Baixo | 26.3km 16.4 miles
Today would be our longest daily walk on the Camino: 26.3 km (16.4 miles). It was also a glorious autumn day – clear blue skies and a temperature that climbed to 26°C.
We set off early, and about 4 km in, just as the sun was rising, we passed two stone hórreos (granaries) on our approach to the picturesque hamlet of San Xulián. We stopped here for our morning coffee at a café next door to a small 11th-century church.
As we left the hamlet, we passed a further three hórreos, a reminder of how popular they were in Galicia.
For more information about hórreos (granaries) – read the Previous Day
10 Km later, we crossed a medieval bridge into the village of Furelos, which soon gave way to the outskirts of the larger town of Melide. Here, for the second time on this stretch of the Camino, we spotted a large painted mural covering the side of a building. It was in the same distinctive style as the first – and we were to see a third – the following day. All three were advertisements for the popular Estrella Galicia beer.
It wasn’t until two months later, after finishing the Camino and while writing up this journal, that I decided to look these murals up – and what I discovered was fascinating:
The artworks we had seen are part of the world’s largest urban art exhibition, Las Estrellas del Camino (“The Stars of the Way”).
2021 | Camino Francés (The French Way): 7 murals over 140 km
2022 | Camino Portugués (The Portuguese Way): 9 murals over 230 km
2023 | Camino Inglés (The English Way): 5 murals over 126 km – there is one in Reading!
The aim of the project is to pay homage to the local people – the “Stars” – who live along the Camino and help keep its spirit alive for pilgrims.
It was especially nice to arrive in Ribadiso. We had stopped here before, back in 2016, and I remember bathing my feet in the river beside the medieval bridge. It was July then, and the grassy banks were packed with pilgrims cooling off by the stream. This time, in October, the scene was entirely different – quiet, calm, and almost empty.
It had been a long day. With all our stops and explorations, we had been on the road for nearly 11 hours. Thankfully, cold beers were waiting.
