Ponferrada – rest days

I spent 3 days in Ponferrada recovering after my achilles tendon injury. Meanwhile, the gang was on the road from Astorga. They were sending me all the beautiful pictures, and I decided that I will be back to this part of the Camino one day. I want to start that walk from Astorga, so I can experience everything I skipped these days and climb up to Cruz de Ferro.

Anyway… I was focusing on resting and recovery mostly, but these 3 days were so long and I didn’t want to spend it in bed, so every day I went for a little walk to stretch a little and discover the city a bit.

Castillo Templario de Ponferrada

It was built to protect pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. The castle was named after the famous Knights Templar, who defended the town in the 12th century. This massive 8000 square meter fortress-castle is now open to visitors for a small fee – Pilgrims have a discount. You’ll be transported to medieval times here at your visit.

Ponferrada streets and details

Injury update

Day 24 – Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo – 20.3 km

…vamonos

Yesterday afternoon Cindy arrived at Ponferrada. Honestly, I couldn’t wait to be back on the road again. I was well rested by now, and ready to go. I felt better, obviously, my injury was not healed yet – but it was no more time to waste rest, I really wanted to continue with the gang.

Since today looked quite easy, and relatively short, we had a late start around 9 am. The way out of Ponferrada goes along the river – it takes a while to get out of the city. Then the path went along small roads, and dirt roads – but thank God, it stayed pretty flat. According to the book, today we gonna cross some vineyards which I was excited to see – even tho’ it meant there were some hills on my way soon.

Shortly after lunch, around 1pm the hills started to appear on the horizon. You will have the option to continue walking along the road or to make your way into the vineyard – the vineyard way is a bit longer but it’s much more pleasant than walking on the side of the road all day.

It’s so beautiful – oh my God. I remember I enjoyed today so much. I mean, look at the pictures…. I don’t know if I was just emotional to be back on the road or what happened, but really, I just loved it.

Might aswell go to Sydney, then…

Day 25 – Villafranca del Bierzo to La Laguna – 22.9 km

According to the book, today there are 2 possible paths – both alternative ways meet in Trabadelo. First is a flat path through Pereje. The other one is called Camino Duro, which is a steep 10.7 km route, with uphill to 460 meters ascent and 380 meters descent…

With my recovering achilles tendon injury – I guess I don’t need to explain why… I went with the first option. Today is supposed to end in La Faba after a good climb… But, I didn’t want to risk another injury or make the current one worse – honestly, I’m just happy I could walk again. So, I decided that the 22 km more or less flat route was more than enough for today. I stayed in La Laguna and left the climb for tomorrow morning… and after that, no one can stop me before O Cebreiro! – fingers crossed for that 🤞

…moments like this are getting a bit emotional…

Today we ran into a lovely little place – a donativo in the woods, next to a lake with a little waterfall…

Camino magic…

hashtaggoodvibesonly

Soon, after Las Herrerias you will face two alternative ways again. The left is a walking path – a bit rough. The right way is for the bikes – a normal concrete road.

The decision is yours – we went left. Maybe it wasn’t the easiest on our knees. We ran into some guys with their bikes here, well… for them, it really was a mistake to choose the left path. They were struggling big time, pushing and dragging the bikes around, because… well…

…as I said the path is indeed, rough…

The good news is that it’s only 1.5 km and you can call it a day – hell, I did.

Day 26 – La Laguna to Fillobal – 19.4 km

We woke up to a suuuper cold and foggy morning. I was a bit nervous about today’s climb with my injury because O Cebreiro is the 2nd highest point of the Camino. I was thinking how I’m gonna crawl up there, and how long it will take me to do it – the first 5 km contains a nice 400 m level difference. So just in case we planned an early start today, and during breakfast we booked the beds for tonight in Fillobal – just before Triacastela and a steep downhill. And we started our walk in the clouds… literally.

It was breathtaking. I heard that today will be full of beautiful views, but I wasn’t expecting this. Today was one of my favorite days, really. The beauty of the surroundings was just as beautiful as day one, up in the Pyrenees. Surrounded by mountains, valleys, and blue sky all around – it was like in a dream.

… unfortunately, just like in the Pyrenees, as we were climbing higher and higher everything got more and more foggy. I wasn’t too happy about this, because… remember my non-existent view from Orrison? You can refresh your memory HERE if you want. The blue skies were long gone by 9 – 10 o’clock, it got cold and it felt like we were in a horror movie. I was thinking, oh come on… After all this climbing we are not gonna see anything again from the top?

Shortly we reached O Cebreiro – a tiny mountain village situated at 1,300 meters above sea level. A unique and tiny gem with Celtic roots that can be traced back 1500 years. Today it’s a museum village with traditional stone houses called pallozas – only to be found in this part of Galicia and offering a peek into ancient life in the region – people lived here until the 1960s’ – crazy…

I was in desperate need of something warm, so we had a hot chocolate break here in one of the nearby bars – there are quite a lot of souvenir shops and touristy stuff around.

There are two ways out from O Cebreiro – strange, these days lately are all about crossroads and decisions. Principal is the main one – which we took. Complementario is the other option – which is apparently easier with a bike… no idea, if any of you guys took this turn before let me know.

Still cloudy … but come on, look at this view 😍

Pasito, pasito 🎵

Around 12 pm finally, the sky got clear and blue – and a comfortable 28°C came with it… – as we were arriving to San Roque at 1270 meters – where you can find a huuuge statue of a Pilgrim facing the wind.

All day today was climbing and then descending – but what a beautiful one. The views wherever you look are simply breathtaking – on a clear day especially, which we got for the rest of the afternoon… as we were shortly arriving at Alto do Poio – at 1342 m. Actually, this is the last climb, the last real effort you have to push through on the Camino.

Day 27 – Fillobal to Sarria – 21.6 km

The end is near… SoOooOOo near actually that from Sarria it’s only 100 km left. I’m starting to get more and more emotional as I see the signs with the numbers getting lower. I remember one of the first days when I saw a sign and it was saying 670 km to Santiago – not gonna lie, there I was thinking what the actual f— am I doing?! … and now I see only a 120 km. I don’t want this to end.

Breakfast of the Champions title definitely goes to Spain

There shouldn’t be any surprises today, especially if we are not gonna miss the important crossroads and take the good turn there that goes towards Samos instead of climbing through San – … 🤞

It was so strange how much the environment around us changed from one day to another. The trees, the plants even the roads felt different and gave away different vibes – corredoiras are very typical walking paths here in Galicia.

Also, there is a hidden gem on the way if you choose the route through Samos. It’s called Respira y Disfruta – we found it accidentally but I’m gonna leave you the Google Maps coordinates here on purpose, because you have to stop by – like really, have to.
It was the best donativo I came across through the whole Camino – the vibes, the people, the food. EVERYTHING about it is just pure Camino Magic – peaceful, and refreshing. I could’ve spent days here just taking it all in and recharging my soul.

As we were getting closer to Sarria it felt like there were more people on the Way – not crowded just yet, but yeah… more. It’s because many pilgrims choose to do only the last 100 km, which officially starts from here. – well… 100 km on foot, or the last 200 km by bike. Upon completion, you receive your Compostela – rumors are saying you MUST stamp the Credential TWICE a day at least… but honestly, no one checked it in my case – although I was walking the whole thing – and they didn’t ask about my motives or my religion or anything like that. They just gave me the Compostela after some data collection, and of course, after I paid the10€ for the box.

Sarria and that last 100
Also, this is me saying:
– Can you please make sure my stomach is not big in the picture?
– Sure.
😂 🤗

Buen Camino,

Nearly there,

Noémi

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