Alberguería

If you visit only one bar on the whole of the camino, make it the one in Albergueria. The Rincon del Peregrino has been collecting scallop shells signed by pilgrims since it opened in 2004, and by now the walls and ceiling are covered with thousands of them. Leave your name on one and it becomes part of the bar's history. Pilgrims have been known to return years later just to find their shell still hanging.

The bar also serves as a private albergue with a handful of beds. It sits at about 900 m altitude, at the top of the climb from Laza, and the feeling of arrival -- a cold drink, a warm welcome, your name on the wall -- is one of the defining moments of the Camino Sanabres.

Beyond the shell bar, Albergueria is a tiny mountain hamlet with no other services. But you don't need anything else.