Saleta PathA short route of medium to low difficulty. It has a distance of 13 km. at its longest. This circular route can be done in four hours with breaks.
It combines paths, paved roads, country lanes and dirt tracks. Wildlife is abundant and rich in native species.
The artistic heritage is manifest by the churches, manor houses, palaces and chapels, which in the land of Trasdeza are beautiful remnants of the past. It is worth noting that this path passes over a part of the Via da Prata but in the opposite direction from Silleda to Taboada Bridge.
- Itinerary
- Short Route
- Heritage
- Nature
SILLEDA - TRASFONTAO - TABOADA - TABOADA VELLA - CAMPORRAPADO - COVAS - A SALETA (SIADOR) - Silleda.
Leave Silleda from the church square, following the Camiño Real (Via da Prata) in the opposite direction to the hamlet of Trasfontao, where the highlights are the trail, the Pazo (manor house) and the oak woods, and subsequently the pilgrim’s rest area, in Taboada. Following the path in the opposite direction continue to Taboada Vella, and just before the door of the rural guesthouse "A Posta da Prata", we continue to the right and thus, leaving the Camiño de Santiago. At this point, before continuing on the route you are recommended to go down to the river to admire the beauty of the composition formed by the path and the 10th century Bridge with the inscription of its construction engraved on a rock.
Once your cultural breaks is over, return to the gate of the guesthouse, stay on the left, continue on the track and then left again down to the river Deza and along a beautiful riverside walk up to the hamlet of Camporrapado, famous for its illustrious locals and the markets it held up until the18th century and its fine chapel.
Continue the route to the hamlet of Covas with its rural guesthouse, and from there, walk through the oak woods to the A Saleta sanctuary in Siador where the walk ends, and thus, admire its surroundings...
To return to the starting point, via road, Silleda is 2 km away.
SILLEDA - TRASFONTAO - Industrial Park ÁREA 33 - O MARCO (via the Wastewater Treatment Plant) - A SALETA (SIADOR)
Approximate distance 5 km., which runs along the same course as the long route to the end of the Pazo de Trasfontao oak wood. Once there, just where the industrial park starts at a chito which marks the Camiño de Santiago turn right onto a cart track, which leads to the Silleda water treatment plant.
Silleda Church:Fine facade the tallest in the council, built in 1854 in a neoclassical style, it honours Sta. Olaia, patron saint of Silleda.
Camiño de Santiago: Formerly the Camiño Real (Royal Road) also known as the Mozarabic Way, Camiño de Castela or Maragatos, now better known as the Via da Prata, travelled along since the Middle Ages, it is part of one of the most important pilgrimage routes in Galicia.
Pazo de Trasfontao: Estate belonging to the Crespo family, 18th century walled enclosure, interior courtyard with sober fountain, large chimneys, dovecote, decorated chapel, sundial and two great gates christened by the former owners María and José.
Taboada Church and stone cross:Romanesque church of the 12th century dedicated to the Apostle and much reformed but of a pure style. The main door has archivolts on animal heads and columns with vegetation. The apse is rectangular with windows and corbels under the roof. The stone cross has a unique diamond fluted pedestal shaft placed on steps. Beside it is an anthropoid sarcophagus discovered in the area and in the square there is a monument to Santiago.
Medieval Bridge and Path: Using the well-maintained road, which begins next to the rural guesthouse “A Posta da Prata", you reach the bridge. Built in 912, as the inscription found on a nearby rock vouches, this is a feat of medieval civil engineering with a single medieval arch supported by two pillars on rock. It preserves intact the balustrade and is crossed by an ancient paved road that was almost the only point of communication between Trasdeza and Santiago, with Castela.
Built in 1812, Baroque in style, sober and a good example of rural architecture which presides over the oak grove of the former Camporrapado Fair, which once was a place of transactions and settlement for carters and innkeepers.
Casa Grande de Fuentemayor. Covas. Cortegada: Important building, constructed in 1708 by D. Joseph Covas. A Solid structure with two floors, a lovely garden, pond, pool and picnic area, today it is a rural guesthouse.
Shrine of A Saleta. Siador: The first sanctuary in Spain dedicated to Our Lady of A Saleta in commemoration of the appearance in the French Alps in 1846. Beautiful setting with oak wood, play area, campsite, and fountain built in 1846 and a single cork oak, declared Singular Tree of Galicia for its age and size. Also noteworthy is the residence of the Saletino Fathers presided over by an image, of A Saleta, in bronze by sculptor Fernando Rodríguez, a stone cross and the Pazo de Sestelo a few meters away at the site of the same name.
Approximate distance 5 km., which runs along the same course as the long route to the end of the Pazo de Trasfontao oak wood. Once there, just where the industrial park starts at a chito which marks the Camiño de Santiago turn right onto a cart track, which leads to the Silleda water treatment plant. From there, the track is paved, once you get to the hamlet of O Marco cross the Silleda road to the right and a few metres further down connect with the track that leads to the Shrine of A Saleta.
Flora: Coppice predominantly gorse, broom and brambles. This is a woody area comprising of oaks, chestnut, birch and alder. Isolated oaks, holly, olive, boxwood and various fruit trees can also be found.
Wildlife: The mammals found are fox, wolf, otter, genet, squirrel and weasel. Birds such as the peregrine falcon, hawk, dove, woodpecker, coal tit, owl, dove and quail.
