Bosque de los Peregrinos en Melide

There is nothing like doing the Camino de Santiago for a quiet stage, without many physical challenges and surrounded by nature. One of the sections where all these characteristics come together is in the Pilgrim's Forest, which is located shortly before reaching Melide. At this stage the French Way and the Primitive Way coincide, and they do so through an idyllic section surrounded by trees.

The birth of the forest

This enclave was born from an initiative called “A million trees for the roads”, which in 2004 granted 300,000 trees to be planted in eighteen municipalities near Santiago. 2,500 of those plants were assigned to Melide, and what is now known as the Pilgrims' Forest was formed.

It is also linked to the Order of Santiago, as its members plant a tree when they are invested to immortalize the moment. So have other illustrious characters who walk the Camino. In this park we also find the cross of wishes, in which the pilgrims left a stone collected during the Camino to make a wish to the apostle Santiago.

In this section we find an engraved stone, in memory of Miguel Ángel Blanco, as well as plaques with the names of “illustrious pilgrims”. Once we cross the Bosque de los Peregrinos, we are very close to Melide, the end point of the stage.