Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Day Eleven: Ponferrada

This section was one of the hardest for us as it was a long distance (20 miles) and a strenuous day with climbing and significant descent. The cool of the day gave way to sunshine and we spent most of the day in above tree line expanses with snow capped mountains on our side. 
The vista here are gorgeous and we reached the Cruz de Ferro with our Dutch friend, Martinique that we met in the morning. At this point on top of a mountain, each pilgrim leaves a stone that they brought with them to signify the releasing of the burdens of their sins for which they are walking. 
This is also where the descent starts and we walked on down through small mountain towns and through more nature. 
The yellows and purples of the flowers made the walk very colorful and I constantly stopped to take pictures. 
But this led us well into the heat of the day and we struggled with the heat to get to Ponferrada and our albergue. 
After we checked in, we immediately went to the Templar Castle to tour the ruins. 

This albergue is very nice with a fountain and a garden covered for sitting out. The rooms have several bunk beds and a separate place for our boots. 
 David is so tired, he went to sleep.

No comments: