Distance: 0.0km (0.0km / 728.7km).
Weather: Nice.
An intermediary day, half-way between two Caminos. In the early morning I take a taxi to the busstation, where I eat my breakfast, not the only pilgrim in place. At the busstation, I embark on the bus going to Ponferrada, from where I will start my next Camino from. My plan was not to only walk one Camino, the Camino Portugués, but to walk four actually. If time. It is not the Camino Frances that I aim to do now, having done that in 2011. My plan is to walk the less known Camino Real de Invierno. More on that later.
View from the bus to Ponferrada.
Vega de Valcarce with the Saracen castle ruins, seen from the bus.
The bus trip to Ponferrada does not take the direct route, instead it goes on a strange long detour. Which is fine by me, strangely enough. I can just sit back and relax and look out of the window as the scenery passes by. Or talk to the female American pilgrim sitting next to me, who has just finished the Camino Frances from St Jean Pied de Port. Why I say it is fine by me, is because the bus ride is somewhat of a ride down the memory lane. The bus stops in A Coruña, where my cousin and I spent some days in before doing the Camino Inglés. It stops in Betanzos too, a beautiful town on the Camino Inglés.
Tiny knights templar dude.
From the English way memory lane, the bus later changes to the French way memory lane. In clouds, it passes over O Cebreiro and then drives through the Valcarce valley. Next to the road we can see pilgrims walking on their way to Santiago. I can see the remains of the Saracen castle I visited when I was in Vega de Valcarce. It is hard not to change my mind to go the Camino Frances instead. I know there will be more moments like this later in the day.
Mural of Nazarenos, Semana Santa.
Ponferrada is almost as I remembered it. It feels strange to walk by the old Knight Templars Castle again, the flowerbed beneath the castle that I liked so much is no longer there. The Albergue de Peregrinos San Nicolás de Flue is however still there. It looks almost exactly the same. Back then I spent two nights at the albergue, since I had to wait one day for my dad to arrive. He walked the rest of the Camino Frances with me from there.
Castillo de los Templarios.
View of the hills outside Ponferrada.
There is a small downside to my journey now. Given the Camino that I am going to walk, and since I arrived by bus and not on foot together with all the other pilgrims here, I feel more alone now. Joan and Paige are back in Santiago de Compostela now, felt sad to leave them. June is back home in Taiwan. Ciaran is on his second day on the Camino de Finisterre.
Part of the castle reflected in a water pool.
I visited the Castillo de los Templarios when I did the Camino Frances seven years ago, but now the restauration of the old castle of the Knights Templars are finished, so I see it fit to visit it again. Entrance is free for Norwegians, for reasons that I did not entirely understood. No matter, it is sort of a must-see if your are on your way to Santiago, stopping in Ponferrada or not.
Ponferrada and the Plaza Virgen de la Encina from the templar castle.
Pages of an ancient book.
Most of the castle is as I remembered it. With the wide open space at the top, and the fortified castle walls with views over Ponferrada and the surrounding hills and Camino. If I remember it correctly it was the library that was not fully restored the last time, now it was finished. There are some impressive old books at display here, making me wonder how much time they used to make them.
A narrow street in Ponferrada.
On the west side of the castle there is a little park, with small paths leading down to the river (Río Sil). It is a great place to watch the sunset from. Painting the castle walls in warm colors.
The Torre del Reloj.
Now, what in the first place made me return to Ponferrada? I will not be walking the Camino Frances. It is however from Ponferrada that the Camino Real de Invierno begins from. This Camino follows the route that the pilgrims used in old times to bypass the hard climb over O Cebreiro, which could be almost impassable in those times given the amount of snow. A lot of pilgrims chose to wait in Ponferrada, but those who walked on usually found routes further south, and the Winter Way follows the most common of these.
Birds on a branch.
Sunset from beneath the castle walls.
It is said to be a wonderful scenic route, but a route that few are walking. An usual itinerary for Camino Real de Invierno is about eleven days to Santiago de Compostela. At the end of the route, the Camino joins the Via de la Plata at A Laxe.
Plaza del Ayuntamiento.
Plaza Virgen de la Encina.
I met one of the hospitaleros at the albergue in Santiago, who also arrived here today to work here. It was nice meeting here again, and it was nice meeting the albergue and Ponferrada again too. Tomorrow is the beginning of the winter.
Basílica Nuestra Señora de la Encina
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