ensuitepilgrim's Blog

Marker post at the beginning of today’s stage.

Some shelter from a shower.

Excellent legend about this church – link below:

https://kpoethig.weebly.com/blog/leboreiro-igrexa-de-santa-maria-along-the-camino-frances

Christina taking advantage of the facilities.

Building the new Portomarin,early 60s

“ I’ll Pick a Rose for my Rose” – Mark Johnson

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=FM7WXquTuPY&si=tiEgw4P-aPrAI8EO

https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=OBBlIfUH9bY&si=OYnat9-EW6GUHEG0 Bob Marley & the Wailers. – MISTY MORNING

We have passed the halfway stage of our Camino and walked through what is probably the most challenging stage of the Camino Frances – congratulations, especially those in our group walking the Camino for the first time.

THANKS TOMTHE GROUP FOR USE OF THEIR PHOTOS

A damp start to,the day with “ mizzle” in the air – that’s cricket commentary talk for a fine drizzle. It was also our coldest start.

Having turned right at the sign for San Xil the route climbed up along a country road and into the mist.

All,you need to know about Sarria below:

https://sarriaturismo.com/en/

We took a couple of uphill 3.5 km taxi rides back up from Pedrafita to rejoin the Camino at O Cebreiro, after a good breakfast at Miguiñas.

Going downhill is always harder on the knee and hip joints than uphill

It was time for lunch and at the top of a short but steepish climb the camino provided, well,at least for me as I was determined to have meat free day.

Eventually to Triacastela – a hard descent –

Tomorrow we walk to Sarria and possibly a change in the numbers of Pelegrinos walking – so far it has been very uncrowded – but that is a part of the Camino experience still to be appreciated or at least accepted.

When climbing a mountain it is best to be well fuelled

The first few Kms were deceptive as we followed the River VALCARCE – quiet and flat as were the sleepy villages we passed through.

https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/o-cebreiro

From here it was 3.5 km off the Camino to our accommodation. Some walked it,some took the bus for €1.55 each, to Pedrafita.

We eventually got breakfast here after 2 1/2 hours, more than welcome Tostada with Tomato, salt and olive oil,some local ham for protein more like Brunch by 10.30.

Split decision this morning as some of the group wanted to walk the entire Etape and some wanted to take a taxi to Ponferrada- 6 km – and tour the Templar Castle. So be it and I was in the latter group which was quickly taken to Ponferrada. On climbing up to the castle entrance we discovered that it was closed Mondays! I wasn’t too disappointed as I have often found that the exterior of castles, like French chateaux, more interesting than the interior and often gone inside out of a sense of duty rather than curiosity.There was the barrio historico to compensate and a needed ATM found in the new town. Whilst waiting ,we saw on the Pharmacia clock that it was 18* ( 09.00 ). Tom disputed this saying it wasn’t that warm because the hairs on his legs were still upwards! Tom, out human barometer.

We retrieved our steps and met up with the other group coincidentally,in one of the squares. Second breakfast time.

We walked out of Ponferrada along a pleasant path by the side of the river.

Walking on to Columbrianos and its hermitage.

Some of the views and some of the Pelegrinos:-

Then our digs for the night - El Monclao de Lazaro – unique.

A very misty skyline with a few breaks in the cloud – no rain forecast – sunny intervals late afternoon.

Climbing on pretty good terrain, wet in places because of heavy overnight rain, we eventually reached the summit.

https://caminoways.com/cruz-de-ferro

The five guidebooks I have used for the Camino Frances have been almost faultless in their unique ways in detailing information about routes, accommodation, local history and mapping. However, they all omit to mention the difficulty level of the final 900 metres descent. Of all the Caminos I have walked including the Primitivo, the climb across the Pyrenees, the valleys of the Camino del Norte, nothing comes close to the challenges of both the path and the awful terrain in many stretches of this descent.

The difficulty was exacerbated by recent heavy rainfall but even taking that into account it still remains inexplicable that the guidebooks do not go into any details of the dangers of this section . I got so fed up with it I reverted to the nearby road which mercifully was very quiet ( Sunday ). I even managed then to get a couple of photos as the mist began to clear .