After yesterdays mammoth day and the reduced distance for today we decided to have an easy start – we woke at 8am and had breakfast at 9 – we were on the road at 9.35.
The distance to go is a variable depending on who is measuring and from where – assuming the Wise Pilgrim app is correct – we had 266km from Ponferrada- we have now completed 162km – so we have 104km to go ?
The sunrise at 8.30 was as beautiful as ever
The mist hung thickly in the Rio Mino valley
The route was a gentle climb
With some interesting views of nature …
And then a steep down in an old Roman road
On the way down we were caught up by 3 pilgrims – Lucian ( Luke) from Belgium, Jesus from Spain and Mario from Portugal. We followed Mario and found a nice restaurant at the Belesar nautical club which is positioned on the river. Mario is fluent in Portuguese, Spanish & English – so we asked him to interpret the handwritten menu for us.
The modern day bridge was built after the river as dammed – the original Roman bridge and church are under water
The climb up was either on the old Roman road or on tarmac we had lovely views and some interesting encounters
The steep fields with terraces contain low shelters that are used by laborers to store tools and also sleep as their homes are often far away from the fields
The Dpaso Hostel in Chantada is modern and very comfortable and close to some decent restaurants – they have capacity of 28 beds – only 3 of us here tonight – so Jules and I both got bottom bunks – yay small pleasures.