Stage from Lourenza to Abadin

Information about stage 28: Stage from Lourenza to Abadin

Itinerary

We start off to the right from the Lourenzá hostel and, when we reach the end of the street, we turn right to take a very steep slope that leads to the cemetery and later to the small town of Arroxo . In this population we are obliged to take the N-634 towards Grove , a village that belongs to the parish of Santa María de Vilamor and the Mondoñedo Council. The Jacobean signaling now renounces asphalt and rewards us with a comfortable wooded section up to San Pedro da Torre . Next to the chapel we go up a path to descend further on to the capital of the Concello: Mondoñedo , an important town grown around its cathedral, which suggests a visit and the first coffee-break of the day. On the doorway of the cathedral, the scallops are recovered, which lead to a local road, with hardly any traffic, which you have to go up for the next 8 kilometers to Lousada. Under the branches of chestnut, oak and eucalyptus trees, some villages of the Council will succumb, such as Barbeitas, Maariz, Pandín, Casavella, Pacio and, finally, Lousada . In this agricultural and cattle-raising town with typical granaries and slate roofs, we leave the road on the left and take a path that goes up to the hermitage of San Cosme da Montaña . At the height of the hermitage, on whose façade there is an indicator shell, we turn left and after a while we carefully cross the N-634. From this point we continue along more paths, some dirt tracks and others paved to Gontán , where the Xunta pilgrims’ hostel is located. Abadín , capital of the municipality of the same name, is half a kilometer further up.

Difficulties

• Continuous ascent from Mondoñedo to the hermitage of San Cosme da Montaña

  More than 11 kilometers of continuous ascent. From Mondoñedo to Lousada it is a stretched road climb. From Lousada to the hermitage of San Cosme da Montaña, the unevenness is accentuated in excess when taking a path at the exit of the population.

Observations

• The Xunta de Galicia pilgrims’ hostel

  is located in the center of Gontán. It belongs to the Municipality of Abadín and is located just before Abadín itself , from which it is separated by a few hundred meters. In addition, the town of Abadín has two private hostels and other hotel offers.

• Pilgrims who travel on horseback can shelter their animals in a stable in the same Campo de la Feria de Gontán , 10 meters from the hostel and in front of the hostel.
• There are two alternatives to get from Mondoñedo to Abadìn, the most used is the one described in the Lousada itinerary. The other “alternative” marked by the Xunta in 2017 goes through the mountains to the town of Abadín, saving three and a half kilometers of stage, but does not have any service in its 12 kilometers. This route through the mountains is much more physical and it is not advisable to do it alone or in bad weather.

What to see, what to do

It has been speculated that the name of this town could come from the descendants of Abul Kasin or Abad I, creator of the Abaditas dynasty, although it is not very likely.

• Parish Church of Santa Maria de Abadin

  Romanesque, dating from the 12th century.