The trail from El Acebo to Penalba de Santiago

[peregrina2000]

I was so disappointed to find that La Trucha was closed for renovation when I was there in summer 2011. Since I was planning to walk the Invierno from Sahagun, I had hoped to learn of this alternative through Penalba de Santiago, which would skip Ponferrada and allow me to visit this beautiful little town and church. Alas, Reb, I was unable to follow in your footsteps because Jaime was nowhere to be found, and all I heard from the shopkeepers and residents in El Acebo was that the trail was dangerous, poorly marked, and generally a bad idea.

Has anyone else taken this alternative recently?

 

[mspath]

I, too, have always wanted to walk from Acebo to Peñalba de Santiago in order to visit the tiny Iglesia de Santiago de Peñalba, an exquisite 10th c. chapel with Moorish arches. It is on my "to do" list for later this November.

During past autumn/winter caminos when La Trucha was closed the nearby Mesón El Acebo always offered hearty mountain food and a congenial local bar. Their private albergue upstairs was wonderfully WARM when cold fog and sleet covered the mountain slopes. Here is the Eroski web link >> http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es./albergue-meson-el-acebo

Margaret Meredith

 

[peregrina2000]

Hi, Margaret,

I'd really appreciate any info you can report on the trail from El Acebo to Penalba. Do you plan to then return to the Camino Frances, or continue on the Invierno? I would love to walk this way.

And I second the recommendation for the Meson El Acebo. The family that runs the place has roots that go way back and they are really decent people. I've stayed in their albergue, too and was happy for the heat! And this was in spring, not winter.

Buen camino, Laurie

 

[GunnarW]

Re: Acebo - trail to Las Médulas

***UPDATE: the website is down (for the moment)

I discovered in an early post the existence of Las Médulas and La Miranda Circular. La Miranda Circular is 15 day circular walking trail around Ponferrada that is crossing the camino in (El) Acebo and Las Herrerias
All info can be found on http://www.lamiradacircular.com
From El Acebo, you can walk to Las Médulas in two stages. The walks on the maps are reversed but no big deal.
Peñalba – El Acebo (named Camino de la Herreria)
http://www.lamiradacircular.com/mapas/mapaEtapa1.pdf
Las Médulas – Peñalba (named Camino del Silencio)
http://www.lamiradacircular.com/mapas/mapaEtapa15.pdf
Those maps are wonderful!!! I never found on internet such detailed walking maps for free. It seems that it’s almost impossible to lose track by consulting the maps. I will give the maps 9/10 because I discovered that there are more existing “Pistas Forestales” (colored in yellow lemon) around Dragonte, the part I did during my camino in sept/oct 2011.
And yes! You can use those maps also to do the Camino Dragonte.
Find all the maps here “Seleccionar Etapa”.
http://www.lamiradacircular.com/index.php?nodoID=53

Studying those two maps:
The first one seems to be “difficult” (Acebo-Peñalba). But the second one is really challenging (Peñalba-Médulas). Over 30km and it seems that there are no villages, no fountains, really nothing! that is on the way during those +30km. Can Rebekah or Margaret or someone else confirm the conclusion for The Camino del Silencio? Thank you.

 

[peregrina2000]

I wonder if anyone has more information on this. Susanna and I are getting creative and thinking of new and exciting things to fill our time when we sail into Ponferrada at the end of the Camino Olvidado. We are considering walking the Invierno from Ponferrada into Santiago. And so I thought, well, why not expand the Ponferrada part a little bit and get to the Valle de Silencio and the church in Peñalba de Santiago, which I have wanted to walk for years now. So I got to thinking...

One possibility would be to walk Ponferrada -- El Acebo (backwards) - Peñalba de Santiago - As Médulas, which is right on the Invierno.

It seems that the link to "La Mirada Circular" and its maps is broken. So I´m wondering if anyone can update this thread.

BTW, when I was last considering it, there didn´t seem to be much in the way of accommodations for walkers in Peñalba. Now there is an albergue, http://lamasera.blogspot.com/ in addition to the bar with rooms (La Cantina).

Re: Acebo - trail to Las Médulas

I discovered in an early post the existence of Las Médulas and La Miranda Circular. La Miranda Circular is 15 day circular walking trail around Ponferrada that is crossing the camino in (El) Acebo and Las Herrerias
All info can be found on http://www.lamiradacircular.com

Studying those two maps:
The first one seems to be “difficult” (Acebo-Peñalba). But the second one is really challenging (Peñalba-Médulas). Over 30km and it seems that there are no villages, no fountains, really nothing! that is on the way during those +30km. Can Rebekah or Margaret or someone else confirm the conclusion for The Camino del Silencio? Thank you.

Gunnar, looks like I run in to you no matter where I go to look for help.

 

[GunnarW]

I studied this trail a long time ago. In America, you have something called like a bucket list? I downloaded all the pdf's and have them with me. I will send them to you.

 

[peregrina2000]

Gunnar, maybe it's time to take it off the bucket list..... just sayin'

And it looks like it'll all be on the gps thanks to a miracle worker in Belgium.

 

[Deleted member 3000]

In America, you have something called like a bucket list?

Death as a motivator to overcome the inertia of rest, and do something that you want to do. Only in America!!!

 

[Rebekah Scott]

I walked that section of the Mirada Circular four years ago. Things may have changed since then, but here is what I recall offhand:
From El Acebo is a steep descent to Compludo, site of a Roman hydraulic iron works, now a historic site. There was a bar in the little town, but it was closed. The trail passes through two or three villages on the way to Peñalba, and I stopped in one for a very nice lunch and another for a coffee. This was in April, early in the tourist season.
Peñalba itself was rather deserted, but I found a good restaurant and had a fine dinner. I stayed in the attic of a Casa Rural, owned by the somewhat surly people who run the cozy bar near the church. (albergue was closed.)
The church has been restored to within an inch of its life. I recommend a hike up to the cave of St. Ganadio (?) where locals maintain an altar. Really cool. Got to make sure you stock up on eats and drinks in Peñalba as there is only one bar and one town on the way to Las Medulas -- it is a LONG, TOUGH hike, one of the hardest I have done. You arrive at the one bar/one town rather early in the day, and I hope waymarks are more clear now than they were in 2010!
(A real bonus to this hike is a high-altitude labyrinth in a mountain meadow. Spectacular!)
I am sorry I don´t remember the names of those little towns. I deeply love the Valley of Silence, I hope to set a story there one of these novels.

 

[peregrina2000]

I walked that section of the Mirada Circular four years ago. Things may have changed since then, but here is what I recall offhand:
Got to make sure you stock up on eats and drinks in Peñalba as there is only one bar and one town on the way to Las Medulas -- it is a LONG, TOUGH hike, one of the hardest I have done. You arrive at the one bar/one town rather early in the day, and I hope waymarks are more clear now than they were in 2010!
(A real bonus to this hike is a high-altitude labyrinth in a mountain meadow. Spectacular!)
I am sorry I don´t remember the names of those little towns. I deeply love the Valley of Silence, I hope to set a story there one of these novels.

Reb, I have just looked at the gps tracks for Penalba to As Medulas, and it is 32 kms, with 1200 m ascent and 1500 descent. I guess that makes it just a little tougher (in terms of ascent) than St. Jean -Roncesvalles, but that was a long day! And I can't even imagine all of that descent, my knees cringe when I think about it.

So, how long of a day was it to As Medulas in terms of hours? Did you sleep there and then go back to the Frances? Or is this another one of your special little jaunts?

 

[Rebekah Scott]

So, how long of a day was it to As Medulas in terms of hours? Did you sleep there and then go back to the Frances? Or is this another one of your special little jaunts?

Laurie, this day of hiking would be like a walk in the park for you. Except for a long section of badly paved two-lane road that you would not like at all.

I left Peñalba at about 7:30 a.m., and dragged my carcass into Medulas just as the sun went down... that was April, when the sun goes down about 7:30 p.m. or so. I had a hard time finding someplace open for dinner, ended up eating all the leftover roasted red and green peppers in the only open bar in town and drinking about seven cañas!.. (it may have been Sunday). So let´s say 12 hours hiking. I did stop a few times, btw. And DO NOT drink the water from unmarked fountains up there!

I did this walk in 2010, a very solitary walk all the way from Roncesvalles to Santiago. I left the Camino Frances in El Acebo and picked up the Camino Invierno in Las Medulas -- it became a real journey of discovery!

 

[KinkyOne]

Now there is an albergue, http://lamasera.blogspot.com/ in addition to the bar with rooms (La Cantina).

Hi!

Sorry, because this is kind of off topic, but I'm really interested if anyone knows what the name/word "La Masera" means? My family name is Masera (although written with, as we call it, "roof" above the letter S)

Thanks in advance!

Boštjan Mašera

 

[Rebekah Scott]

According to the Asturian lady up the street, it means "farmstead." Related to the Catalan/Aragonese ¨Masia,¨ which means the same thing. Cannot attest to her credentials, but she knows a lot about these things.

 

[Rebekah Scott]

Back the to thread: This topic is somewhat superseded by Laurie´s post "Mountain Splendor El Acebo - Ponferrada." She and I walked the path from Acebo to Peñalba early July 2014 (there are actually THREE Acebo-Ponferrada ways to choose from, and we took the most gradual climb). A short guide to the trails in this area is in the works.