Day 43 - Puebla de Sanabria - 12.5 km

Weather: 1 - 13 degrees. Cloudy with some sun. Brrrr
Clothes: short and long sleeve merino tops, light wind fleece, rain jacket, trekking pants.

The walk.
I’m looking forward to Puebla - it has a medieval old town and the nearby lake is the largest glacial lake on the Iberian peninsula.
What a beautiful day. Wonderful sunrise and blue sky for much of the morning.
My German friend Peter warned me last night that this next section on the Camino can be flooded after rain and that he was going to walk along the road - and that is a bit shorter as well.
I started off with Peter along the road but thought I would walk the off road Camino. However when I got to the turn off something stopped me. I looked at the map and read the route description again. It sounded like this could be even worse than some of the other wet sections I had already traversed. A quick check in with the body and I headed back to the road.
And what a beautiful walk - virtually no traffic and beautiful autumn trees (Birch, Chestnut and others I couldn’t identify) on either side of the road. A little later there were windfall apples again - delicious.
And then the real mountains appeared ahead - the ones that will eventually be covered in snow - again reminding me of the Snowy Mountains - this time the view from Geehi Flats (the old air strip) where we used to pick blackberries.
So many of the landscapes of Spain remind me of Australia. New yet familiar.
Arrived at Puebla around 11.30 am, stopped at the supermarket for some fruit and the Farmacia for some more ibuprofen and Panadol. I had a quick look at the town and then on over the second river crossing to my hotel. It looked a bit run down from the outside but the inside is great - filled with all sorts of collectables from the area.
The manager also said I can use their computer so I can finally fill out the form for the claim for a fraudulent transaction on my Cash Passport card. Better late than never.
Staying in a hotel also gives me the chance to completely empty my pack and get organised again.
On the next day or so we will go over the highest point on this Camino and then down hill to Santiago.
Later in the afternoon I walked back up to the old town and had a peaceful wander around the castle and adjacent streets. A lovely way to end the day.

Buen Camino

PS. Managed to wash and dry most of my clothes. I washed undies, socks and one top earlier and when the heaters came on washed some more. My wind fleece was looking grubby so now it too is clean and fresh.Read more