July 17th. We left Rabinal
del Camino and immediately began a steep climb up to the Cruz de Ferro passing
through Foncebaden and Manjarin (both no-where places) on the way. The Cruz de Ferro is the highest point on the
entire journey (1505 m - 4940 ft.). From
the start I knew that this would be one of the best walks of the entire trip. The scenery was spectacular - we were
surrounded by mountains for as far as we could see. I was ready for the challenge of the climb
after so many days on the flat. Rabinal
itself is a beautiful little town with a very old church and some other lovely
buildings. A large number of peregrinos
left Rabinal at the same time as we did.
For a while it felt like hiking up to the Tuckerman Ravine on Mount
Washington to ski on the Headwall or Herman’s Highway on the May 24 long
weekend! We soon got strung out,
however, some people dropping behind and others rushing ahead. It still amazes me how few people we actually
see on the trail.
As we approached the Cruz de Ferro, a large pile of stones and a cross on the top of the pass de Irago, I was reminded of the many chortens we saw in Nepal on the way to Mount Everest. People had hung coloured cloth or discarded clothes on the cross and for a moment I thought they were Buddhist prayer flags.
As we continued our walk towards Molinaseca we were treated to wonderful colours - bright purple heather, yellow gorse, yellow star flowers and bright pink foxgloves. From time to time there were pine trees or oak trees to provide a little shade as we walked along the sandy paths! Later these sandy paths gave way to steep pebble/rock-strewn trails that led us down, and down, to the village of Acebe.
We are now at our hotel in Molinaseca - a very lively little town about 8kms from Ponferrada. Our hotel, grandly called El Palicio, is beside the river and the local swimming hole so there are a great number of Spanish people out enjoying the beautiful summer afternoon - as well as many tired peregrinos staggering in.
Tomorrow we head for Villafranco del Bierzo. We will soon be leaving Castilla y Leon and passing into Galicia - our final geographic/political region of the trip.
A Word on the Spanish Villages Along the Camino As we walk along the Camino we pass through many Spanish villages. For the most part they leave us baffled. No matter what time we pass through - 7am, 2pm, 7pm - they seem deserted. Many of them are poor and run-down - although earlier in the walk they were more affluent and pristine. We almost never see children in these villages and rarely see women - unless they are out cleaning the street in front of their houses or scrubbing the steps. When we do see people enjoying themselves they are almost always men. In Villadangos, for example, we saw men in the cafe drinking coffee in the morning, men in the cafe playing cards in the afternoon (all afternoon) and men in the cafe drinking beer in the evening. This is still a very male-oriented society - at least here in the villages of northern Spain.
Molinaseca to Villafranco del Bierzo: Vineyards and Window Boxes. July 18th. Our journey today took us from Molinaseca to Villafranco del Bierzo passing through the lovely city of Ponferrada and the beautiful village of Cacabelos. What I love about these cities/towns/villages are the window boxes, spilling over with brightly coloured petunias and bright red geraniums. They are everywhere and they remind me of the small towns of the Black Forest in Germany where I lived in the early 1980s.
Most of our walk today was though vineyards - beautiful but not spectacular like yesterday’s walk. Outside of Pieres we took an alternative (country-side) walk to Villafranca and passed through the almost ghost town of Valtuille de Arriba. I say almost ghost town because although most of the houses were very run-down or abandoned there were signs of renewal at the same time.
Villafranca is a curious mix of old and new. Our hotel is right on the main road out of town so it is very noisy!
Villafranca to Herrerias: Spanish Rounds and Babbling Brooks. I was rather disappointed today as I wanted to take the cross-country trail to Herrerias but missed it coming out of Villafranca and ended up on the highway with everyone else! There is also a wilderness trail that I would have loved to have taken if I had been with some of my more experienced hiking friends - maybe another time! As it was two things made up for the missed route - first, we were serenaded by two lovely young Spanish boys singing rounds and duets to amuse themselves on the trail ahead of us and second by the sounds of a babbling brook (aka the Rio Pereie) rushing down the mountain beside the highway.
We saw our first goats and lovely little kids today and a few sheep with tiny lambs. They were all being guarded by an enormous dog, which seemed to be taking its job very seriously!
As we approached the Cruz de Ferro, a large pile of stones and a cross on the top of the pass de Irago, I was reminded of the many chortens we saw in Nepal on the way to Mount Everest. People had hung coloured cloth or discarded clothes on the cross and for a moment I thought they were Buddhist prayer flags.
As we continued our walk towards Molinaseca we were treated to wonderful colours - bright purple heather, yellow gorse, yellow star flowers and bright pink foxgloves. From time to time there were pine trees or oak trees to provide a little shade as we walked along the sandy paths! Later these sandy paths gave way to steep pebble/rock-strewn trails that led us down, and down, to the village of Acebe.
We are now at our hotel in Molinaseca - a very lively little town about 8kms from Ponferrada. Our hotel, grandly called El Palicio, is beside the river and the local swimming hole so there are a great number of Spanish people out enjoying the beautiful summer afternoon - as well as many tired peregrinos staggering in.
Tomorrow we head for Villafranco del Bierzo. We will soon be leaving Castilla y Leon and passing into Galicia - our final geographic/political region of the trip.
A Word on the Spanish Villages Along the Camino As we walk along the Camino we pass through many Spanish villages. For the most part they leave us baffled. No matter what time we pass through - 7am, 2pm, 7pm - they seem deserted. Many of them are poor and run-down - although earlier in the walk they were more affluent and pristine. We almost never see children in these villages and rarely see women - unless they are out cleaning the street in front of their houses or scrubbing the steps. When we do see people enjoying themselves they are almost always men. In Villadangos, for example, we saw men in the cafe drinking coffee in the morning, men in the cafe playing cards in the afternoon (all afternoon) and men in the cafe drinking beer in the evening. This is still a very male-oriented society - at least here in the villages of northern Spain.
Molinaseca to Villafranco del Bierzo: Vineyards and Window Boxes. July 18th. Our journey today took us from Molinaseca to Villafranco del Bierzo passing through the lovely city of Ponferrada and the beautiful village of Cacabelos. What I love about these cities/towns/villages are the window boxes, spilling over with brightly coloured petunias and bright red geraniums. They are everywhere and they remind me of the small towns of the Black Forest in Germany where I lived in the early 1980s.
Most of our walk today was though vineyards - beautiful but not spectacular like yesterday’s walk. Outside of Pieres we took an alternative (country-side) walk to Villafranca and passed through the almost ghost town of Valtuille de Arriba. I say almost ghost town because although most of the houses were very run-down or abandoned there were signs of renewal at the same time.
Villafranca is a curious mix of old and new. Our hotel is right on the main road out of town so it is very noisy!
Villafranca to Herrerias: Spanish Rounds and Babbling Brooks. I was rather disappointed today as I wanted to take the cross-country trail to Herrerias but missed it coming out of Villafranca and ended up on the highway with everyone else! There is also a wilderness trail that I would have loved to have taken if I had been with some of my more experienced hiking friends - maybe another time! As it was two things made up for the missed route - first, we were serenaded by two lovely young Spanish boys singing rounds and duets to amuse themselves on the trail ahead of us and second by the sounds of a babbling brook (aka the Rio Pereie) rushing down the mountain beside the highway.
We saw our first goats and lovely little kids today and a few sheep with tiny lambs. They were all being guarded by an enormous dog, which seemed to be taking its job very seriously!
Our hotel today is in an old butter factory and is really quite luxurious!
Next Day. July 20th - On to O Cebreiro
We left early this morning to beat the heat, but we didn’t need to as it stayed cool. Our walk (climb) today took us to the little settlement of O Cebreiro (1310m - 4297ft). This has been one of my main points of interest on the entire trip as the name seems to have some magical quality for me and the idea of a steep climb was very appealing. As it was, although the climb was the steepest yet, it didn’t seem very challenging - so I amused myself by running or walking very fast up the trail to try to increase my cardio-vascular strength. Each day now I get to the end of our walk feeling as if I haven’t really done anything ...
Before we know it we will be in Santiago and our journey will be over
Hello Wendy, thank you for a very nice blog post about your experiences in the last three days. I will be enjoying some time off work...
ReplyDeleteI will keep following your blog. Take care,Vera