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As usual, I woke up at 6am even though we’d agreed last night to a late start since we only had a short walk. However, I’d slept like a log and had no complaints. Fiona snoozed on until I woke her at 7.40 (an outrageous lie-in!) We set off around 8.30, stopping first in the garden of our albergue to pick cherries, following our hostess’s enthusiastic invitation yesterday evening. This was breakfast.
Our walk began with a rather tricky descent along the bedrock of a river (luckily only a small stream at the moment). The weather was chilly and a mist hung over the mountains. I moved at a characteristically cautious rate which meant Fiona had a long rest at the bottom while she waited for me.
Our first stop was at the lovely Alpine-like village of Molinaseca, approached across a Roman bridge, where we had coffee and toast and bumped into friends.
The sun came out as we left the village and by the time we reached our destination it was quite hot. We’re staying tonight at Ponferrado which was a significant settlement even before Roman times. Its medieval castle dominates the old town, built around 1218 by the Knights Templar, apparently to protect pilgrims to Santiago. Despite visiting the castle I haven’t been able to work out why the Knights Templar needed a huge castle to protect pilgrims - I’d have thought it would have been more useful, though less heroic, to run a little police force along the route to protect from thieves and brigands. From what we’ve read, the Moors were defeated in this region around 850 and I haven’t managed to ascertain who the brave Templars were fighting in Ponferrado for a hundred years until the order was dissolved in 1312. Whether useful or not, their castle is very beautiful and well worth a visit.
We returned to our albergue, Alea, which is in a residential area, close to a school and surrounded by flats. It feels urban and quite distinct from the tourist centre. Here we had a vegetarian meal - hurrah! Lentil soup, veggie quiche with salad and an orange. And red wine, sangria and water on offer besides. As usual, our fellow diners were an eclectic bunch. There was a Belgian who’d walked from Le Puy in France, a Japanese man who didn’t speak at all, a Spaniard who’d cycled the Camino from Seville and was in his way home to Gijon on the Northern coast, our Canadian friend, Anna, and a woman from Mexico who said she was walking in the hope of finding peace after the death of her son last year. This is the Camino.
Tomorrow we have a longer walk and the weather appears to be hotting up alarmingly. We are planning a 6.30 start (I seem more enthusiastic about this than Fiona) to avoid walking in the warmest part of the day.
Before I finish, I want to mention how cheap it is to be a pilgrim. Tonight’s accommodation, a five-woman dorm, cost 15 euros and dinner here was 12 euros. Last night we paid 20 euros each for a private en-suite room and about 15 each for dinner. At the moment, I think it probably costs less for me to be a pelegrina than to be living at home. Maybe this is why some people become perpetual pilgrims! Apparently they get to Santiago and then start walking the route in reverse. It’s a good thing I have work to return to and limited stamina or I might succumb to this madness.Read more