Day 45 – Oct 20, 2022 – El Acebo to Ponferrada (16 km / 9.94 miles)
Day 46 – Oct 21, 2022 – Ponferrada to Camponyara (9,4 km / 5.84 miles)
Our Camino path took us to the town of Ponferrada, Spain. We’d heard there was a castle we needed to check out here and with a short hike planned today, we took the opportunity to visit right when it opened before leaving town.
The Templars Castle of Ponferrada was constructed by Ferdinand II from 1178- 1282 AD to protect pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago. The castle was named after the famed Knights of Templar who protected the town in the 12th century. The Knights were a fearsome unit, and one of the most skilled during the crusades. Having changed ownership a number of times, the castle was once a Roman citadel and is now owned by the King of Spain.
The castle is enormous and the architecture is stunning. It was designed in a polygonal shape, with a mountain and a river flanking two of its sides and double and triple walled defenses making it an absolute fortress.
It was made a Spanish national monument in 1924 and its operation is funded primarily through tourism and event hosting. On the day we visited, there was a corporate conference being held in the courtyard.
We enjoyed our visit and the history lesson it provided about the Knights Templar and the centuries of structural additions and modifications which went into the imposing structure we see today.
Day 47 – Oct 22, 2022 – Camponyara to Valtuille de Arriba (10,3 km / 6.04 miles)
We beat the rain! The weather forecast is calling for 10 straight days of rain. Since our epic day of rain at Cruz de Ferro, we’ve been pretty strategic (and lucky) about staying within the windows of time between rain showers. We did get a few sprinkles while we walked today, and the downpour waited until after we arrived at our albergue.
We reserved an incredible donativo for tonight. This is the first time we are staying in a donation only albergue where you pay what you can afford for the bed and breakfast. There is no set price set by the owner of the albergue. These homeowners decided to open their home to pilgrims taking the alternative route through the vineyards. They have 5 beds available. It has been a very nice experience. Lunch and dinner for an extra 16€ for each of us and both were delicious. They served a salad with some of the sweetest, most delicious tomatoes we’ve tasted. They brought the seeds with them from Málaga, a city in Southern Spain and planted them in a community garden they have nearby. On their property they also have a fig tree orchard and we were given delicious samples as desert with our lunch. What a treat!
