Day 14 – Acebo to Ponferrada

The path today was 16 km mostly downhill. We haven’t been below 600 metres for more than two weeks.

We had to pick our way down steadily as it was rather steep and rocky at times. Fortunately we had no slips. The flowers were magnificent. Cistus was just coming out and what I take to be primula auricula was flowering in abundance.

The mountain village of Riego de Ambros was attractive.  These dwellings were clearly intended for people upstairs and  animals underneath.

Our midway stop was Molinaseca where the bridge over the river was built on Roman foundations.

The last half of the walk was a trudge along roads into Ponferrada. I had expected an industrial town so it was a pleasure to see a grand castle originally built by the Knights Templar to guard the way for pilgrims.

We had an exploratory walk to find the bus station. All of a sudden the temperature has shot up. Although not super hot at 27° with the strength of the sun it was definitely preferable to walk on the shady side of the street.

Tomorrow we catch the bus to Santiago de Compostela and fly back to the UK in the evening.

Our second year of Camino was planned to cover the 300 km from Burgos to Ponferrada which we have achieved.

With 2023’s section we’ve now walked 600 km from St Jean Pied de Port in France. That leaves just over 200 km to Santiago de Compostela in 2025. We plan then to walk on to Finisterre on the Atlantic coast which will be a further 100 km.