- Time of past OR future Camino
- Except the Francés
The helpful person in the tourist office strongly recommended not walking up the Puerto del Manzanal instead of the usual route. Grudgingly admitting that the two are almost equidistant, especially if you allow for the massively greater ascent to "the far famed pass of Foncebadón". "And him?" I said, pointing to the nearby statue of 15th century guide writer and monk Hermann Künig, who went up by Manzanal. "Oh, him, he was an idiot": I paratranslate, but I think that was the gist - he added, reasonably, that there was an infrastructure of monasteries and albergues back then which no longer exists on the northern route.
Anyway, shortly before dawn this morning, watching Jupiter fade into the still almost full moon, I hadn't quite made up my mind. But the promise of a near perfect autumn day made me, again, opt for the route less travelled. And I'm so glad I did. The mountain route was a delight. To my surprise, there were yellow arrows and scallop shells almost all along the way - not having to check the direction at every junction makes for a much quicker walk. Mostly pines on the eastern approach to the pass, then a mix of oak and pine and a few chestnuts - the deciduous trees still in their autumn glory. Presumably the wind I ran into a few days ago was less ferocious here.
To the north I could see the pass I miserably walked down from Vegarienza to Igüeña on the Olvidado almost exactly a year ago (14 November 2023, to be precise, I see from my notes here) - a horrible day in continuous driving rain on a slippery path. Today's walk would have been no fun in such conditions, and I'd have stuck to the normal route. But in the perfect, still, dry, clear it was a delight. At about the halfway point I passed the ruined Romanesque monastery of San Martín de Montealgre, where Künig almost certainly stayed. Only the rebuilt bell tower, and part of the apse, remaining.
The bell will have sounded out along the near deserted valley for Martinmas a week ago - would love to have heard it. Most of the way there was the sound of water, but occasionally not, and then the silence was almost unnervingly intense. Very few birds - once, possible the first I've ever come across in Spain, the cawing "nevermore" of a raven.
Shortly after, the pleasant mountain village of Torre del Bierzo appeared. The bar at the edge of the village told me I was the first pilgrim they'd seen in a month, and gave me a generously large bowl of sopa de ajo as a tapa. "Pilgrim rocket fuel", somebody on here called it. Certainly kept me going.
Nervously wondering if I could make it all the way today, I had noticed there was a train back to Astorga from Torre del Bierzo at 4pm every day, if exhaustion or bad weather set in. A useful safety blanket, but not one I needed. The next few km along the río Tremor were less spectacular than before, but more autumn colours, a bit more tarmac and, eventually, the hostal Tio Pepe II, in Las Ventas de Albares, a few km before Bembibre, where I sleep tonight - I booked it from the bar in Torre del Bierzo: 35€, perfectly decent, no real alternative anyway. I assume for much of the year it would be possible to stay in Torre del Bierzo, almost exactly half way between Astorga and Ponferrada, and much nicer.
Anyway, shortly before dawn this morning, watching Jupiter fade into the still almost full moon, I hadn't quite made up my mind. But the promise of a near perfect autumn day made me, again, opt for the route less travelled. And I'm so glad I did. The mountain route was a delight. To my surprise, there were yellow arrows and scallop shells almost all along the way - not having to check the direction at every junction makes for a much quicker walk. Mostly pines on the eastern approach to the pass, then a mix of oak and pine and a few chestnuts - the deciduous trees still in their autumn glory. Presumably the wind I ran into a few days ago was less ferocious here.
To the north I could see the pass I miserably walked down from Vegarienza to Igüeña on the Olvidado almost exactly a year ago (14 November 2023, to be precise, I see from my notes here) - a horrible day in continuous driving rain on a slippery path. Today's walk would have been no fun in such conditions, and I'd have stuck to the normal route. But in the perfect, still, dry, clear it was a delight. At about the halfway point I passed the ruined Romanesque monastery of San Martín de Montealgre, where Künig almost certainly stayed. Only the rebuilt bell tower, and part of the apse, remaining.
The bell will have sounded out along the near deserted valley for Martinmas a week ago - would love to have heard it. Most of the way there was the sound of water, but occasionally not, and then the silence was almost unnervingly intense. Very few birds - once, possible the first I've ever come across in Spain, the cawing "nevermore" of a raven.
Shortly after, the pleasant mountain village of Torre del Bierzo appeared. The bar at the edge of the village told me I was the first pilgrim they'd seen in a month, and gave me a generously large bowl of sopa de ajo as a tapa. "Pilgrim rocket fuel", somebody on here called it. Certainly kept me going.
Nervously wondering if I could make it all the way today, I had noticed there was a train back to Astorga from Torre del Bierzo at 4pm every day, if exhaustion or bad weather set in. A useful safety blanket, but not one I needed. The next few km along the río Tremor were less spectacular than before, but more autumn colours, a bit more tarmac and, eventually, the hostal Tio Pepe II, in Las Ventas de Albares, a few km before Bembibre, where I sleep tonight - I booked it from the bar in Torre del Bierzo: 35€, perfectly decent, no real alternative anyway. I assume for much of the year it would be possible to stay in Torre del Bierzo, almost exactly half way between Astorga and Ponferrada, and much nicer.
). Künig was pretty clear that you don't go through Astorga but keep it "3 leagues to the South". The point of bifurcation was the "Mirador de Trobajo", the base of which about 5km outside Leon, is passed unknowingly by thousands of pilgrims every year. It was at this point you went left to bypass the "mountains of Leon" or right to Astorga.
