It was good to be back on the road again but we both found it surprisingly tiring. At the beginning of April we walked four similar days to today’s effort along the South Downs Way which seemed much easier. Hopefully we will get our legs back in order over the next few days. Otherwise it’s going to be a long trek to Cabo Fisterra.
Ponferrada was very sleepy as we set off this morning at about 9 o’clock. We had had a delightful pizza meal last evening with a delicious bottle of Ribero del Duero red wine. Only in Spain can you get pizza with jamón Ibérico topping and local vino tinto but it worked surprisingly well.ll Perhaps this was a contributor to our hard start. It was not exactly the food of champions.
We walked 24.6 km with an ascent of 302 m. The first part was through the outskirts of Ponferrada with lots of sports grounds and smallholdings. The museum of energy would have been fun to visit.
We walked through many vineyards some in superb condition others rather weedy.
There were several small fruit orchards with cherries and pears coming on. It’s a shame we’re a couple of weeks time early for the cherries which are just starting to ripen.
The countryside is luscious and green but then we were trudging along in the rain for half the day. I could do with some of this rain on my garden back home. It’s been about 11° most of the day which is on the cool side but does make the waterproofs much more comfortable.
I’ve been learning Spanish for the last two years. It’s great to be able to read most of the signs and the like. I’m enjoying being able to order in a café but the response is often in English. Oh well, but many do seem to appreciate the effort.
We’ve been walking in the gentle foothills today. Tomorrow the road starts to ascend and then on our third day we will have a steep 600 m climb in one go and then we will be into Galicia.
Julian and Beryl's camino 