Today was officially another 28km covered. It was a long day which was hot in the afternoon – reached 30 C
As a matter of interest officially according to the Wise Pilgrim App we have covered 609km in walking these last 36 days, which is 16.9km / day. Quite a lot
This made me check what my garmin Fénix has been recording – We have walked 826km which is 22.9km / day. In steps we have been averaging 30 451 steps per day ( total of 1 096 256 steps). Pretty neat bit of walking, talking and personal growth explorations.
Today we did not see any other pilgrims at all – amazing.
It was a chilly and dark start so we walked by headlamp from 7am to just after 8. By 8.30 the puffer jackets were off as we were ascending quite rapidly
We came across many chestnut trees and old olive trees
The most fascinating aspect of the morning walk up to Las Médulas were the remains of the ancient Roman gold mining of the mountain side – our pictures could find justice to the sight due to sun angle and our position – the following is from the hotel where we had breakfast
The Romans had little regard for the earth or the people they enslaved to exploit and obtain the gold – using hydraulic effects of high pressure water – it was a pity we could not explore this for a bit longer – well worth researching more on this.
Las Médulas is a cute village whose inhabitants care for their village and their homes – some pics …
The walk down from las Médulas also included some singing of Mattinata which was recorded but cannot be posted as it is too large
We had a great lunch in Puente de Domingo Flórez and then after crossing this bridge we moved from the region of Leon into Galicia across the Río Sil.
The railroad, the national road on one side and dirt track/ camino on the other side all follow the river Sil.
On the last great uphill before Sorbadelo we came across police and a number of people on the dirt track – quite a surprise – after walking through we saw that someone on a bicycle had died – the body and most of the bicycle were covered by a tarpaulin. Very Sad. Later a car came past with more occupants.
Our accommodation is above bar mar – both run by Manuel – feels a bit like fawlty towers but is really ok – we are the only pilgrims here.
Very interesting info via Wiki on hydraulic mining …
Also that ice cores from Greenland showed a spike in airborne minerals (incl Pb) at the time of Roman occupation in Spain, with similar levels only recorded 1,700 years later …..
Interesting thanks – so mankind has been impacting this world of ours for centuries