25.3 km – 15.72 miles

200 meters – 656 feet elevation gain

7:20am to 1:25pm walking time

It was hard to get up this morning so I actually got about a 45 minute later start than I had intended. I figure it’s not so bad walking out of a city in the dark so an earlier start time would have been good. But I listened to my body and took my time.

Ponferrada is a nice city so it was worth it to stay there again. I was able to tour the Templar Castle in my downtime yesterday. It was also a pretty city to leave this morning with the mountain views.

The first bit after leaving the city was small farm country. Sheep, cows and other animals in the pastures of some of these farms. Then you hit wine country again with vineyard after vineyard.

It’s definitely harvest time for the grapes in this region, as I saw farm workers in several of the vineyards throughout the day. Guessing most of these grapes are used for wine.

I decided that the town was having a fiesta for my arrival. Someone of importance was speaking to the townspeople as I arrived and then there was a short parade of massive dolls controlled by people under them.

Naturally, I joined the parade since I’m sure all of it was for my arrival. 😂

Due to the fiesta, it seems lots of businesses are closed in town today. But luckily I got settled in to a great deal at my albergue of 20 euros for a single room (shared bathroom). It’s the same albergue I stayed at here 8 years ago. Seems just as nice now as it did then.

Tomorrow will be a longer day and will have a significant climb at the end of it. But hopefully the views will make it worth it.