So, another early morning start for our longest walk of the journey and also the day we would reach the highest point on the whole trail.
As we left the houses behind it was so quiet and so dark, but lovely and peaceful! Very quickly the rain that we were expecting started and then continued for the whole of the steep ascent. Unfortunately we didn’t get the views we were hoping for as the clouds were so low.
However, we did see lots of bright colour either side of the path with swathes of beautiful wild lavender and more bright yellow broom.
On this walk we have passed through many small hamlets and villages, but today we passed the smallest of all with a population of just one person! This person runs the local hostel and hopefully this may lead to more people returning to revitalise the derelict houses in this area. Just before on the path there was this amazing rest stop.
As always, after the long climb came the descent and as usual this was by far the most difficult part of the day. Much of it was on loose stones and uneven surfaces. Much concentration was needed but the rain stopped and there was a wonderful view of our destination in the distance. There seemed to be more and more colour too.
As we descended we passed through the very picturesque villages of Riego de Ambros and Molinaseca where lots of the houses have pretty balconies.
It’s been a really tough twenty mile walk but it’s also been a fantastic one. We’ve gone from torrential rain to sunshine and deserted remote paths to now being in the City of Ponferrada with a population of 69,000!