Riego de Ambros to Ponferrada

I was up by 6.40 and away from the albergue at 7.30. There was less daylight outside than I expected and the cloudy sky was hiding the moon, and so I needed to use my head torch especially as I followed the Camino out of the glow of the village’s street lamps.

The guidebook warned of another steep descent after Riego, much of which was directly on the uneven surface of the bed rock. Thankfully, the rain had stopped at some point overnight and so the rock surface was less slippery than it could have been. It was still steep in places and treacherous, as the path zigged and zagged down the mountainside. Passing several men wielding petrol-driven strimmers, the path emerged in a pretty valley, in which the larger village of Molinaseca finally appeared out of the mist.

After crossing the river on a mediaeval bridge, I found a bar serving breakfast. Today I went for “un tostado con mantequilla y mermelada” (toast with butter and jam) plus a coffee and an orange juice which was squeezed directly in front of me.

In contrast to the green mountain valleys before Molinaseca, the Camino led out of the village along the pavement of the main road towards the much larger town of Ponferrada.

About 1km before the town, the Camino headed left into countryside and towards Campo, a small village founded in Roman times. The Romans defeated the local tribe in in about 20BC and set up mines of gold and other minerals, as well as bringing grapevines from Italy.

This side of the mountains is known as El Bierzo, which has a microclimate (presumably because its in the lee of the mountains) and so there’s lots of wine, peppers and pumpkins grown around here. The valley leading to Campo certainly appeared to be covered with cultivation of different crops, including vines.

The Camino came out of Campo onto a road leading into Ponferrada, where I’m planning to stay tonight. I’ve only walked about 15km today, but Ponferrada is more of a transport hub than many of the places on the Camino - about which more tomorrow!

After a nice cup of coffee and cake for twelveses at La bodega de Godivah, where I chatted to an Irish lady who’d finished this year’s week on the Camino, and I bumped into the South African mother and daughter I met a few days ago.

It was then time to head to the Albergue de Peregrinos San Nicolás de Flue, a donativo where I hoped to stay. I was in the first 9 or 10 in the queue, and so there was no issue securing a bed (albeit on a top bunk again). In the queue, I spoke to an Irish man (and repeat pilgrim from Rabanal - he’s on his third Camino this year!) as well as a German man I met last week at Carrion de los Condes, and a Spanish/American chap and a Korean lady.Read more