Camino Norte, day 17, Miraz to Sobrado do Monxes

The plan today was to leave the Bi Terra casa rural on foot, walk to Sobrado do Monxes, and then get a lift back to Bi Terra for another night. This is a pretty good marketing ploy by Bi Terra, so get more Camino business. All the people we met at Bi Terra were older couples doing the Camino. Our first few miles were on paved country roads, then alongside a bigger paved road, and some trail miles.

We finally got to Sobrado, which is the location of a Cistercian monastary. It was undergoing restoration, and we couldn’t get in, but the exterior and grounds were impressive.

According to Wikipedia: The abbey was founded in 952 by Count Hermenegildo Alóitez and his wife Paterna.[1][2] In 958, the founders transferred the county of Présaras to the monastery and,[3] in that same year, Hermenegildo retired there where he lived as a monk the rest of his life and where he was buried.[1] The abbey was inherited by his descendants and nearly two centuries later, in January 1142, the brothers Fernando and Bermudo Pérez, two of the most distinguished members of the House of Traba, handed it over to the Cistercian monks [4] from Clairvaux. The abbey flourished during the 12th and 13th centuries and was able to undertake the foundations of its own daughter house, Valdedios Abbey in Asturias. Sobrado was also given the supervision of Monfero Abbey after it joined the Cistercian Order.

After a period of decline, in 1498 Sobrado was the first abbey in Galicia to join the Castilian Cistercian Congregation.

The monumental new Baroque abbey church was dedicated in 1708. Most of the conventual buildings were also rebuilt at this time.

The dissolution of the monasteries enforced by the government of Mendizábal in 1835 put an end to the abbey, and the abandoned buildings fell into decay.

In 1954 the Cistercian monks of Viaceli Abbey in Cóbreces, west of Santander, began reconstruction, having already refounded and restored Huerta Abbey in 1929, and were able to resettle the monastery with a new community in 1966.

We got to Sobrado and settled in for a sandwich and a nestea at a cafe, and called Bi Terra for our ride back for the night. They were already in town picking up somebody else, so we gulped down our drink and piled in a little Euro car. Walked 16 km, 12 miles, 5 km on paved country roads, 5 km on a path or sidewalk alongside on the road.

Costs of the day:

Sandwich in Mentes, beer and ice tea in sobrado.
€90 for another night at Bi Terra
€40 2 dinners