This is the Camino for anyone who needs a break from the crowds on the coast. You follow an old Roman road that climbs from the Cantabrian coast up to the high plateau of Castile. It’s a quiet, green route with plenty of history to make you stop and look. Pilgrims on the Camino del Norte turn south at Santillana del Mar. Others start earlier, in Suances.
For the first stretch you walk almost constantly beside the River Besaya, through mountains covered in oak, chestnut and beech forest. For centuries the valley was the main link between Castile and the sea. You can see it in the Romanesque churches, monasteries and chapels along the way. On the way to Reinosa comes the climb: about 470 metres up in just over four kilometres. After that the landscape opens out. In Palencia you follow the Canal de Castilla and a series of rivers, from the Pisuerga to the Carrión. The route is waymarked as the GR-73 and joins the Camino Francés at Carrión de los Condes, where you continue to Santiago.
The best times to walk it are April and May, or September and October. From November to March, and in June too, it’s cool and often rainy. A good rain jacket is simply part of the kit then.