Today was Mike’s last day with us as we walked from Triacastela to Sarria.

For once not too cold and not too hot as we left town this morning. We had another choice of route today, northwards with a steep starting climb and great views or southwards via the largest monastery in the region.

Triacastela is the first town on the Camino de Frances in Galicia and is overwhelmed by the large influx of pilgrims during the busiest times of the year, when there are more pilgrims than neighbors (population c800). Several kings and members of the nobility had a relationship with Triacastela, with the greatest benefactor being King Alfonso IX (1188-1230), of whom it is said even spent some time there. 

Of course we took the scenic route which did indeed involve a bit of a steep hill out of town and straight after breakfast. The sun was warming its way through the clouds as we headed uphill along a nicely forested path that wound though green fields (think cows grazing rather than crops). We passed the house of an English artist who had retired to here and subsisted by selling paintings to pilgrims. Unfortunately (or thankfully) he was nowhere in sight as we passed.

We crested the hill at San Xil, and began the inevitable descent. It was fairly flat for quite a while as we enjoyed the views. The sun was now out fully, and though still quite early, was very warm, so we also enjoyed the cover of the path through the trees.

Partway down now, we passed through Samos, nothing much to see except for the ubiquitous church. The bright green of the fields contrasted nicely with the blue of the sky as we passed a couple of herds of cows, including some fairly recently born calves.

We finished off descending down to Sarria (c500m in total), still enjoying the views (when out of the trees), past a small field of daisies and a Stork that seemed to be feeding it’s young (we hadn’t seen any for a few days so were wondering if they didn’t come this far west – now we know). Walking into Sarria, through the “new” town, we crossed the Rio Sarria and the had to walk up a long flight of stairs into the “old” town where our hotel was situated.

After some lunch we had a quick walk around town – the old town is not very large – and a quick peek into the old pilgrims prison (now a cultural centre). The costumes/masks are used in parades here (I haven’t found out what for) but they do look like a local version of “it’s a knockout”!

Of course no day is complete without an ice cream. We also explored a couple of churches, Iglesia de San Salvador – a beautiful Romanesque/Gothic 13th Century Church, and Iglesia Santa Marińa de Sarria – dated from 1885 and is located in the Plaza de Juan María López, who paid for the construction costs.

Tomorrow we head for Portomarin and only 5 more days of walking.

Today we left O’Cebreiro, with Mike, and headed towards Triacastela.

Cebreiro’s Iglesia de Santa Maria (we didn’t get a chance to visit) has a story also to tell. It is said that during the middle ages, the Holy Grail was kept there and was used in masses. On one occasion, a villager struggled through the mountain snowstorm to get to the mass and when he finally arrived the monk celebrating the mass scolded him for doing it for the piece of bread and gulp of wine given out at the end of the ceremony. At that moment, the bread turned into flesh and the wine in the Holy Grail into blood. The remains of the blood and flesh are still kept in the church in a silver reliquary.

A slightly chilly morning, the sun was out and we were mostly above the cloud layer which was rolling in as we left. The above pictures are from yesterday evening and this morning just before we started walking.

Today was to be a mainly downhill kind of day, naturally it started with a little bit of a steep climb and some really stunning views of distant mountains / hills peeking though the cloud layer.

The path was nicely dappled with sunlight as we walked, mainly keeping to the same level above the clouds and then we started descending down into them. As we walked through the small village of Liñares the whole area was full of mist giving the place a wintery feel.

Then someone snuck in a very steep, but quite short, hill up to the top of Alto de San Roque (1,270m) and the Monumento al Peregrino (the work of the Galician sculptor José María Acuña) which was erected in 1993. I wanted to get a clear photo of the statue but there was a large family taking turns to have people on the statue for photos and taking their sweet time about it. There was even a queue waiting so I just snapped quickly during a family “turnover” hence the random person in the corner. The sun was really trying to burn through the cloud, eventually it did as we walked through Hospital, with the church in clear sunlight.

We then began our descent down into Triacastela, dropping down approx 600m over a distance of about 6km. It was steep but not as steep as we feared. The views were still as amazing as before as we dropped down into the valley.

Tomorrow is Mike’s last day with us as we head to Sarria (the most popular starting town on the Camino).

Today, with “El Jefe” Mike, we left Villafranca del Bierzo and headed upwards to O’Cebreiro. This was the last of our “double dip”days, combining the legs from Villafranca del Bierzo to Las Herrerias and from Las Herrerias to O’Cebreiro.

We stayed in a charming hotel, Puerta del Perdón, run by Dani who put our bags in our rooms, did our laundry and gave us cake for breakfast!

We had a stroll round the town last night but, being Sunday, unfortunately all the churches were closed – the 3rd picture here is yet another old building being turned into a plush hotel. Dinner was in the delightfully named Don Nacho restaurant – the portions were huge, but tasty, and a bottle of the local house red was only €5 – it was very nice and made from the Mencía grape (known as Jaen in Portugal) which is a variety native to the western part of the Iberian Peninsula. The oldest known reference to this town’s area is from the time of Bermudo I the Deacon, around the year 791, as the site of a battle between the Muslims who returned from Galicia and the Christians of the Asturian king.

We had two options for the start of today – take the easier route via the road or the more scenic, but tougher, route over the mountains. No prizes for guessing which one we took. Once we crossed the Rio Burbia the climb started with a very steep section to get the heart beating, legs pumping and lungs gasping and then eased slightly (but not too much) as we climbed about 400m in a little over 6km. It was worth it though as the views were beautiful. The high point of this section of climbing was an altitude of just over 900m.

Of course we couldn’t keep climbing, so next was the descent, quite rapid (just over 300m in 2km), down to the road that would take us into Las Herrerias (from where we would start our second climb). We passed through La Portella de Valcarce and stopped to take a look inside the Iglesia de San Juan Bautista (and of course get a stamp for our passport. On the final stretches into Las Herrerias we cross-crossed the Rio Valcarce many times.

We stopped in Las Herrerias (so small we were glad to be passing through rather than staying) for a quick drink and a muffin before attacking the last climb of the day. This would see us ascend just under 700m in about 7km. The climb was relentless, the views amazing and the sun was very hot (thankfully we had some shade on the climb up). We also moved from Castell y León into Galicia. No ice cream today but a very much deserved / needed beer after we checked in. For Paul and myself this was harder than the first days climb through the Pyrenees. For Mike this was definitely a very tough first day!

Tomorrow we head to Triacastela with only 7 more walking days left.

Today we left Molinaseca and headed towards Villafranca del Bierzo.

Slightly chilly this morning as we left Molinaseca but nowhere near as cold as it has been the last few mornings – one of the effects of being at a much lower altitude. In 2020 Molinaseca was added to the list of “most beautiful villages in Spain” and it’s development over the years is linked to the Pilgrim’s Bridge (picture in yesterdays post), a Romanesque construction that rises over the Meruelo River. In the Middle Ages, Molinaseca became part of the kingdom of León depending directly on the royal authority of Alfonso VI and is now one of the municipalities where the Leonese language is preserved.

Some beautiful views as we walked out of Molinaseca and towards the city of Ponferrada (we had already visited yesterday to watch Ponferrada play out a 1-1 draw with Albacete). As we crossed the Boeza river we could see the Castillo de San Blas in amongst the trees. The castle is part of the heritage managed by the Fustegueras Foundation or Valdés inheritance, a whim of Miguel Fustegueras’ great-uncle carried out in the second half of the 19th century and which is neither a castle nor a dovecote. It is, as Daniel Valdés wrote: “a capricious and beautiful recreational factory construction, imitating an ancient fortress”.

From nice views of Ponferrada as we walked down the hill into the city, we crossed the river Sil via the Puente del Centenario and emerged back into the countryside’s small roads and paths.

We walked through the village of Columbrianos, of course there was a church there in a familiar style. We then caught up with our favorite bunch of Koreans – we have passed them by every day of the Camino so far and their smiles and infectious enthusiasm every day certainly brightens our day. Most mornings it’s a bunch of high fives and lots of noise as we meet. Some of the mountains in the distance look very suitable for ridge walks and / or scrambling, but that’s for another time.

As we passed through Fuentesnuevas, a lady “manning the door” suggested to us that we come visit to get our stamp and have a look in the church. She was well wrapped up against the “cold” while we were in our shorts and t-shirts. For such a small village the interior of the church wasn’t a disappointment and the ceiling fresco of the last supper was something to behold.

There were more vineyards now as we walked towards Cacabelos and we noted that rather than villages being small and compact, they were now quite narrow but lengthy and Cecabelos was no exception. Having missed out on an ice-cream yesterday we were quite keen for one today and, as the saying goes, “the Camino provided”.

The sun was clear in the sky and felt pretty hot as we walked the final few kilometres into Villafranca del Bierzo. Mike had flown to Santiago de Compostela yesterday and then caught a bus to Villafranca this morning to join us for the next three days. We arrived at our charming hotel which is directly opposite the Castillo-Palacio de los Marqueses de Villafranca – the castle is still lived in and is only open at certain times on a Sunday, unfortunately we missed the times.

Tomorrow we have our last “double-dip” day as we head to O’Cebreiro and possibly the 2nd hardest day of the whole trip.

Today we left Rabanal del Camino and headed to Molinaseca

Today’s highest altitude would be just over 1,500 metres which was not too challenging as we started the day already at 1,122 metres. The sun was out and, as usual, is was pretty cold as we set off, climbing straight out of Rabanal del Camino. The town appears twice in Book V of the Codex Calixtinus (an anthology of background detail and advice for pilgrims following the Camino – written in 1138-45) as “Raphanellus”. In the first reference, in chapter II, it is referred to it as the end of the stage: “The ninth goes from León to Rabanal. The tenth, from Rabanal to Villafranca , at the mouth of the Valcarce [river] valley”. The second reference mentions it as the first of the places where the Viatores who worked on the Route and their services worked in the time of Alfonso VII: “They prepared, for the pious love of God and the Apostle, the Camino de Santiago from Rabanal to Portomarin , prior to the year of the Lord of 1120”.

The views were nothing short of stunning as we made our way slowly up the mountain until we came to the small village of Foncebadón. The gradient of the path didn’t lessen as we went through the village but it was good to walk on a paved area instead of the stoney path.

Still climbing we eventually reached the top of Alto del Mojón (1507m) and stopped briefly at the Cruz de Ferro (a wooden post with an iron cross on top). A replica of the original cross is kept in the Museo de Los Caminos in Astroga. At its base, a mound of pebbles and dirt has been forming over the years due to the tradition of pilgrims bringing stones here from their homes, or placing local stones here as memory of loved ones.

Not quite at the top of our climb today, we continued onwards on paths flanked by multi colours of heather with views of the rolling countryside (and a couple of very young calves) before peaking in view of a military transmission base at the top of Pēna Llaba (1531m). We also got our first view of Ponferrada ( a city we will walk through tomorrow) down at the bottom of the mountain.

Having reached the top in two days of climbing we now had to descend all the way down in one go on paths that were pretty Stoney and very steep in places (thank goodness it wasn’t raining or it would have been a nightmare descent). The views continued to amaze, it was a balance between looking at the scenery and looking a the ground to not trip over anything. There were even large areas of wild lavender growing right on the path edge. We could see small towns nestled within the mountains with improbable looking roads being their only access as well as a couple of small towns (seeming to subsist purely from El Camino).

Up until now the path had been pretty open but now, for a period, it was quite closed in with vegetation as we continued down the mountain. At this stage we met a man from the UK who had finished the walk in Santiago and was on his way back to St Jean – from where he was about to walk to Jerusalem and then Ethiopia, a very impressive effort!

At the end of a pretty bruising descent (approx 900m over 10km) we finally arrived in Molinaseca where we checked into our hotel before heading out for some lunch (overlooking the river) and a deserved sit down.

Tomorrow Mike will be joining us at some stage during the day as we walk to Villafranca del Bierzo.

Today we left Astorga and headed for Rabanal del Camino.

Astorga is the head of one of the most extensive and oldest dioceses of Spain, whose jurisdiction covers half of the province of León and part of Ourense and Zamora. The Roman city was founded in 14 BC, being named by Emperor Octavian as Asturica Augusta, now known as Astorga, and became an important administrative and military centre. The walls of the town were rebuilt by Bishop Nuño around 1242 and they underwent several repairs during the Middle Ages. The Roman city had thermal baths with hot, warm, cold water systems, sauna’s and two main sewer systems that are still in use today.

As we walked out of Astorga it was nice to get back into the countryside and start to see mountains in the distance again. The Meseta (large flat plains located between the cities Burgos and Leon) was very flat and with not the most varied scenery so we were pleased to be through it. Lots of people apparently skip this portion but it is a part of the Camino Frances and needs to be experienced. We passed by the barracks of The 63rd Field Rocket Launcher Artillery Regiment which is attached to the Field Artillery Command of the Spanish Army. Although the regiment is called “rocket launchers”, currently both the regiment and the Army do not have these materials, since the Teruel system was decommissioned on December 31, 2011. 

We now began what would be a steady climb throughout the day. Instead of fields of crops there were bushes, trees, hills / mountains, villages nestling amongst it all, the sun was shining and the cold wind was (for the vast majority of time) absent!

We kept on walking slowly upwards, nothing difficult and quite enjoyable. We passed through a couple of small towns with the inevitable stork’s nest on a church tower. A small finch impossibly balanced on the top of a small branch waited patiently for me to take a photograph before flying off. The last picture is of the mountains we thought we were going to have to cross tomorrow but thankfully they slid gracefully off to our side as the day went on.

As we were now closing in on our destination for the day we passed an Albergue that had setup a few large teepees in a field, I wonder how many bunks they could cram into each of those. Slowly the town of Rabanal del Camino came into view as did the mountains behind it (which we will cross tomorrow). The town itself has an old church which was very plain inside (although plainly ancient as well) – there were people praying so no photos this time.

Tonight we are sleeping at an altitude of over 1,000m for the first time this trip. Tomorrow we will peak at 1,515m as we head to Molinaseca.

Today we left Oncina de la Valdoncina / Villar de Mazarife and headed to Astorga.

This was the last time on this trip that we would walk and then get a transfer to hotel / back to where we left off. It was very sunny (hence the squint in the first photo) but also very cold.

Villar de Mazarife owes its origins to Mazaref, the head of an illustrious family of Mozarabs from Córdoba who, under the protection of privileges from the kings of León, undertook the great enterprise of repopulating the upper Páramo. The road from Villar was very straight as far as Villavante – not much of note was happening other than farming activities in the fields and a couple of tractors on our path.

We walked through the village of Villavante and out onto another lengthy, straight road. In fact these two straight roads comprised the first 1/3rd of today’s walk. After being passed by a geriatric tractor we then walked along beside the railway line for a while before approaching the town of Hospital de Órbigo.

We crossed the Puente del Paso Honoro, which is a medieval bridge from the  13th century, built over the Órbigo river. It is now too big for the current river, but before the construction of the Barrios de Luna reservoir the river’s flow was much greater. The bridge has 19 arches and has been a national monument since 1939. The name of the bridge comes from a famous jousting tournament that took place in the Jacobean Holy Year of 1434.

The path had been flat up to this stage, now we faced a climb (not too arduous) for the next few kilometers. The scenery was a mixture of crops and scrub, one pretty field of poppies and purple flowers stood out. Soon enough we were at the top of the hill, marked by a cross, and could see Astorga and its cathedral in the distance. It was a reasonably short walk from there, down the hill and into Astorga, where we checked into our hotel and then set out to check out the sights (and maybe have an ice cream).

The Episcopal Palace of Astorga is a building by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí. Built between 1889 and 1913 and designed in the Catalan Modernisme style, it is one of only three buildings by Gaudí outside Catalonia. When the original Episcopal Palace was destroyed by a fire in the 19th century, Bishop Juan Bautista Grau y Vallespinos, of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Astorga, desired to assign the design of the new building to his friend Gaudi.

Next up was the Cathedral. The gothic edifice was begun in 1471, within the same walls of its Romanesque predecessors from the 11th-13th centuries. The construction lasted until the 18th century, so its original Gothic Style appearance was added to with elements from later styles, such as the Neo-Classicist cloister (18th century), the Baroque towers, capitals and the façade, and the Renaissance portico. With a rectangular layout, it has an architectural closeness to the German Gothic style. Above is a photo dump of the beautiful interior, altars and chapels.

Of course we had an ice cream!

Tomorrow we start climbing back into the mountains and head to Rabanal del Camino

After a great rest day in León, and 15km of “strolling”, today we headed out to Villar de Mazarife.

León was founded in the 1st century by the Roman legion Legio VI Victrix which served under Caesar August during the Cantabrian Wars (29-19BC), the final stage of the Roman conquest of Hispania. In the year 74AD the Legio VII Gemina settled in a permanent military camp that was the origin of the city. Its modern name is derived from the city’s Latin name Castra Legionis. The Romans established the site of the city to protect the recently conquered territories of northwestern Hispania from the local Celtic tribes and to secure the transport of the gold extracted in the province — especially in the huge nearby mines of  Las Médulas— that was taken to Rome through Asturica Augusta (modern-day Astorga – tomorrows destination).

We walked nearly 1/3rd of our distance today to get out of León and its suburbs, crossing the River Bernesga via the Puente Roman de San Marcos. The walk was through the various suburbs, including interesting shaped apartment block sandwiched between the railway and busy road.

Before leaving the city limits, we came to the Santuario de la Virgen del Camino – built between 1957 and 1961 by the architect Fray Coello from Portugal replacing the previous church that had become too small to accommodate all the parishioners and pilgrims. Its construction was financed in part thanks to the Leonese patron Pablo Diez, owner of Groupo Modelo, a multinational beer company from Mexico. It is governed by the Dominican Order, who promoted a modern-style church, both in its architecture and in its sculptural decoration.

We passed a few more “hobbit” houses and then the rest of the walk to our end destination for the day was across a very flat plain, even if it was at about 900m elevation. Lots of scrubland as well as crop fields. Apparently the good weather we are having has come about a month early and the lack of rain is already affecting the crop growth.

A relatively short day today, only 21km, meant that we walked into Villar de Mazarife and waited for our transfer back to our hotel. The hotel was 12km back the way we had come (we walked part it earlier) and we will get a transfer back to Villar de Mazarife tomorrow morning.

Tomorrow we head to Astorga.

As per our last rest day, today’s post will be mainly pictorial.

We started the day with a stroll along the river and around the old town. Notable items above are the León bullring, León FC ground and the Casa Botines, one of only 3 Gaudi designed buildings outside Catalonia – unfortunately the museum is closed on Tuesdays!

The above are from the Convento de San Marcos – the majority of which is now a luxury hotel.

These pictures are from the La Basilica de San Isidoro de León – such amazing frescos and ceilings.

Finally, from the Cathedral – the stained glass is a wonder to behold.

Tomorrow we resume our walking and head to Villar de Mazarife.

Today we left Sahagún / El Burgo Ranero and headed all the way to León.

Having spent our second night in Sahagún, and catching up with our friends from USA, Germany and Australia/New Zealand who we left behind when doing a double stint a couple of days ago, we took our transfer back to El Burgo Ranero to restart our walk from where we finished yesterday.

It was pretty cold and very overcast as we left El Burgo Ranero. The most popular theory about the origin of the town’s name is that it comes from the number of frogs that populate the lagoons in the area. In 1126 the town is mentioned as Burgo de Sahagún due to the settlement of merchants from Sahagún who wanted to take advantage of the rise in popularity of the Camino de Santiago.

Walking along fairly unremarkable roads we passed the Aeródromo Villamarco, there was no activity there that we could see, and then saw the town of Villamarco in the near distance and crossed over an irrigation channel called Arroyo Madriz de la Cava.

Walking past a couple of “hobbit Houses” or Bodegas and another “monument to pilgrims” we passed through the village of Reliegos and headed down the road to Mansilla de las Mulas, which would be our final destination of the day if we weren’t walking a “double shift”.

Walking into Mansilla de las Mulas we took the opportunity to stop at the Iglesia de Santa Maria. The church, restored more than a decade ago, has three naves and was built in the 17th century on the ruins of its namesake. No stamp available at the church (we think the guardian had not yet arrived as the lights were also off) so, as we walked through the town, we stopped at a random cafe and got our stamp there.

Other than patches of poplar trees (planted in a very regimented fashion) and crossing the Rio Esia and the Rio Moro, it was a pretty uninspiring walk towards León. Of course we saw more storks nesting up high and also a few donkeys and then we got our first glimpse of León in the distance.

We got to our hotel and had to negotiate with housekeeping to have laundry done by tomorrow (after the guy on reception said it was not possible!) and then headed into the old town for a coffee and a deserved / needed ice cream.

Tomorrow is a day of exploration / sightseeing in León.