August 13, 2023 – Jimandi

Walked today: 6.5 mi Camino2023: 213 mi

Looking back as we walked past the Pilgrim statue on our way out of Molinasaca.

Today we walked the entire way on sidewalks! It was a pleasant walk, before the sun got too high in the sky and even then, we were able to find shade if we picked the sidewalk on the correct side of the street.

sidewalk between Molinaseca and Ponferrada

sidewalk leading into Ponferrada (in background)

Ponferrada started off as a Celtic settlement, followed by a Roman mining town. The city was destroyed first by the Visigoths and then Muslim invaders. After the Reconquista, Bishop Osmundo of Astorga commissioned a pilgrim bridge here, which was unusually constructed with steel beams, giving the city its modern name. Ponferrada was a booming pilgrimage town, with diverse merchants including Franks and Jews, who were protected during a 15th-century restriction that called for segregating communities. The railroad came to the city in 1882 and in the 1940s the town grew with the coal industry.

walking past Templar Castle just prior to walking over the steel reinforced bridge.

The Templar Castile was built in the 13th century over a destroyed Visigoth fort, which was built over a Roman fort, which was built over a pre-Roman castro. Soon after its completion, the Templars were banished.

Downtown Ponferrada is modern and features beautiful walkways in the center as well as on both sides.

looking back as we began to leave town center with mountains surrounding Ponferrada in background.

another example of Spanish exterior wall murals, here on two adjacent building adding color to an otherwise drab parking lot.

our hotel in the Ponferrada surburb of Cuatro Vientos

our hotel is located on a busy intersection (circle)

our view across the street: a modern church and a supermarket.

Our room (48€) was ready when we arrived at this small hotel at 10:42. Our transported backpacks arrived a hour later. We had our main meal in the hotel “comidor” (dining room). With the exception of Jim doing some shopping for snacks and bottled water in the supermarket across the street. we spent the rest of the day doing our usual routine.

Walked today: 7.2 mi. Camino2023: 206 mi

Nice breakfast left for us this morning by our Via Avis hosts and their sweet farewell note.

We were overwhelmed this morning by the very nice breakfast prepared for us as we departed early this morning, before breakfast. It was so thoughtful and typical of the hospitality of our hosts.

We failed to mention in yesterday’s blog that we arrived at Via Avis at 10:00 am and rang the doorbell, fully expecting to be turned away, as with most other properties, until the standard checkin time of 2:00. We were instead greeted cheerfully by Daina and welcomed inside and taken to our room.

Throughout the day, whenever we had a question about something, like, is there a place to hang out clothes to dry, Daina or Carlos would respond cheerfully, taking care of our needs, like we were a house guest, not just someone passing through.

Our less than 24 hour encounter with this delightful couple will be among our fondest, positive experiences of all of our Caminos.

the initial few miles from Santa Catalina to Rabanal del Camino looked like this.

Albergue ” Indian Way” off to the right at entry to Ganzo, pop. 30.

Iglesia Santiago at village center in Ganzo (never been inside! door always locked)

having breakfast at only open bar in Ganzo.

Camino parallel to the road from Ganzo to Rabanal del Camino.

Foncebadon near the top of mountain in background… Rabanal at mid-right at church steeple.

Decision time: go right through the rocks, roots and steep (up and down) path through the forest Camino OR go left on the parallel, more gradual inclined paved road with little or no traffic (bikes or cars)

The road 2 votes, the Camino path through the forest 0 votes

We stopped at this bar/albergue just outside of Rabanal

waiting for our taxi just outside of Rabanal del Camino

After walking the 7 plus miles to Rabanal, we asked the barkeep to call a taxi (only two cars serve this area) to take us up, over and down the mountain into Molinaseca, our lodging place for the night. The first taxi service was totally booked for the day but the other one could pick us up in 30 minutes.

The ride up to Cruz Ferro and the incredibly beautiful 7 mile section along the mountain ridge on this clear morning was as we remembered from our three previous walks in 2015 and 2017 and 2019.

Admittedly, we didn’t miss some of the treacherous downhill sections into El Acebo and later into Molinaseca which we have avoided via taxi since 2019.

Had we been able to reserve a place to stay at Foncebadón that matched our Camino2023 plan, we could have walked the ridge again, but it was not to be. But thankfully the memories and some incredible photos of those prior walks will be forever ingrained among our Camino experiences.