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Week 5
22-05-08 Thursday
Astorga to Villafranca del Bierzo
7 hrs 15 min 11.8 Av. 86kms Total 2228kms
Woke up at 06:00 but fell out of bed at 06:30 and on the road by 07:15,
the earliest so far.
We got out of town easy enough but still managed to get on the wrong road at
this small but very picturesque village of Castrillo de los Polvazares,
(more name than village really) but it was not our fault this time
bad signs. So just before this village one needs to turn left to stay on
the Le-142, and about 300m or so later turn right following the Comino
signs.
The climbing started right after this right turn, not steep
but a steady climb.
One just has to follow the Le-142 all the way. The scenery is very beautiful
as one would expect in any mountains, and the Cabrera Mountains are no
exception. The real climbing didn’t begin until the village of Rabanal
del Camino, where the grade got a bit steeper. And it got even steeper
near the top after the village of Foncebadon. One thing we were happy
about was the weather.
We got to Cruz de Ferro and we felt great, it was the highest point of the
tour, and it was also a very emotional moment for us. As the story goes,
Cruz de Ferro is the place where people lay a stone that they have
carried from home along the Camino. The stone representing the sins that
ones done in his/hers life.
Now that is supposed to be the meaning but unfortunately like many other
things it has become a circus, with bus loads of people getting off a
few kms before the top walking up to the Cruz de Ferro, picking up a
stone and taking it a few meters up the hill. Now that in itself was not
all that bad but we saw this jerk on a motor bike ride up the hill for a
few pictures. That really got to us and some pilgrims that we were
sharing bench with got angry and after yelling at this asshole, he got
down and back to his group removed his helmet and instead of seeing a
teenager, he looked to be in his 50’s. Now that was real sad, seeing
someone his age, belittle or cheapen a moment that people have cycled
and walked hundreds/thousands of kms to visit.
After the fiasco, we continued on to the abandoned village of Manjarin and
over another small climb before the fantastic downhill through a couple
small villages and on to Ponferrada. Now this downhill was very steep
and we would have hated to climb up. We had to stop several times not
only to take pictures but to rest our hands from griping the breaks so
tight. But the views were much better than the uphill.
In Ponferrada we stopped at the tourist office to get some information about
camping’s and were told there is one near Villafranca del Bierzo about
25kms further along the Camino.
So after several dragging hills (at the end of the day), we found the
camping, and what a shit hole it was. The grass was knee high in places
only one tent with a motorbike was there and they had several large dogs
walking around free, and to all this it started to rain hard. We went
into the bar/reception and had a cup of coffee and thought about our
situation for about 30 seconds, changed into our rain gear and got the
hell out of there.
We rode a few kms back onto the main road and into Villafranca and found
another tourist office where we got a good tip on a nice Hostel that was
clean and reasonably priced. It was the right decision to leave the bad
camping as the rain got even worst later that evening.
After washing up, we walked to the center of town for a pizza and a bottle
of local wine. Needless to say we sloped good that night.
Left to Right:
1-The very new looking old village of Castrillo.
2- Looking back at Astorga before the climbing began.
3- Stopped for coffee in the village of Rabanal. From here on the real
climbing began.
4- A panorama of the area. Follow the road back and Rabanal is behind
the hill on the left.
5- Cruz de Ferro can just be seen just below those high mountains ahead.
6- It was very cold on this hill but the excitement of reaching Cruz de
Ferro made it bearable.
7- Finally reached it but the hordes of tourists arrived before us.
8- Just left the stone that I carried all the way
from home next to the cross.
9- Monique left her stone next to the cross also.
10,11- And the views were just stunning.
12- The city of Ponferrada can just be seen center of picture.
13- I must admit the downhill was even beter ;-)
14- Going through the village of Molinaseca.
15- Going further downhill.
16- Old bridge in the near Campo.
17- The castle in Ponferrada.
18- Old church in Ponferrada.
19- And still more hills before Villafranca.
20- Looking South from the N-Vl. The weather is moving in.
21- Finally made it to Villafranca. It stayed like this for the rest of
the day and all night.
23-05-08 Friday
Villafranca del Bierzo to Samos
5 hrs 45 min 11.6 Av. 67kms Total 2295kms
Woke up at 06:00 fell out of our very comfortable bed at 06:30 hurried
to get out only to find out the reception did not open until 08:00. So
we walked over to the nearest bar for some coffee and that’s when we saw
that last night’s rain was just the beginning of a low front (the size
of Spain) that just moved in from the Atlantic and we knew then that
today would be hell to pay going over the second highest pass of our
tour at 1337m.
This morning though it was drizzling and after our coffee it had stopped so
we got underway relatively dry. We rode along the N-Vl which ran next to
the A-6 along this small valley between wooded hills. We passed through
several small villages along the way but not really climbing yet.
The weather held out until the village of Las Herrerias when the first
shower of the day came down and where it just so happened to be where
the real climbing began. The going got tough from here all the way to
the top of the first section of the climb at Pto de Pedrafita do
Cebreiro at 1099m. where we had to turn off the N-Vl and onto the
the LU-633 heading WSW.
As soon as we got some supplies at Pedrafita and got on the LU-633 the tough
climb began with many sections over 10%. It was all going
relatively good until just before the village of Linares when the real
storm blew in with gale force winds and ice cold rain in our faces. It
was extremely difficult to ride with our heads tilted sideways trying to
keep the rain off our eyes and keep the bikes up. We fought our way to
the nearest shop/bar that we sought to get some shelter and wait out the
worst of the storm. By now we were soaked through and through, even with
2 t-shirts, sweater, windbreakers and rain jackets on. The only parts
that were a bit dry were our heads, that were covered with the bandanas,
helmets and shower caps over that.
When it did slow down some we continued on to the second summit at Alto do
Cebreiro at 1300m. It continued raining on and off, lighter now, more
like a heavy drizzle, until just before the third summit at Alto do San
Rogue, 1270m. where it came down again real hard but this time there was
no place to hide so we just put our heads down and pushed on to the
fourth and final climb. The Alto do Poio at 1335m. is the second highest
pass or the tour but with this atrocious weather it felt a lot tougher.
We could see the clouds going over the road at speed and hoped that it
would not be as bad going down but we were wrong.
The views going downhill was very nice at first when it did stop raining for
a few moments but half way down it started to rain hard again with gale
force winds which forced us to take cover under some trees for a while,
our brakes were failing now and we could not chance going faster than
20kph, and when it slowed a bit we continued down to the village of
Triacastela. We thought about stopping here but we knew that we were
still too high up so we continued on. And that’s when another downpour
began, I mean it came down by the bucket with visibility down to about
10m and nowhere to hide. We were glad it did not last long and when we
reached Samos we decided that this was it, we had the worst day of
cycling “EVER” of all our tours.
We were drenched, shivering cold
and just felt miserable.
The first Hostel was fully booked, but they recommended a Hotel on the other
side of the village which turned out to be the best Hotel we’ve stayed
in on the whole tour. Hotel A Veiga, Samos, Galicia, (Google it), is
priced well, very clean, super friendly hosts, great kitchen and the
beer is cheap. If you are near this area we highly recommended you stay
here.
As soon as we got into our room we decided we needed a day to recuperate
from this extremely tough day. After a long hot shower we went to the
bar soaked up some beers before we went to the hotel restaurant and
ordered two “large delicious” steaks which we wolfed down and went back
to our room.
We slept good that night.
1- Leaving Villafranca early in the morning. The old
bridge is over the Rio Burbia.
2- Monique talking to two Spaniards, we met them several times during
the Camino and one last time in Santiago.
3- Looking back at our Hotel (tall white building) on the right side.
4- We did not know yet what the weather had in store for us.
5- And now the A-6 is on the right of us. The mouth of the tunnel can
just be seen.
6- That's the A-6 again. The storm can just be seen moving in.
7- The climbing has begun. Zoom in to see the road we have to climb,
center of picture.
8- Looking back down. This picture was taken just
before the first shower of the day.
9- The A-6 again this time below us, just before Pto de Pedrafita do
Cebreiro at 1099m.
10- Just turned off the N-Vl and onto the LU-633. The real climbing
begins now. The next 37kms will be torture.
11- And that's the A-6 again this time way below us. Monique's smile
says the rest.
12- Even with this foul weather the views were still stunning.
13- And the climbing continued.
14- The second summit of the day.
15- And the third.
16- The statue of a pilgrim. Not many pictures here as it was raining
very hard now and I had to be carefull with our camera.
17- The last climb of the day.
18- Highest point of this mountain.
19- Traditional hut.
20- Panorama taken from in-between the showers.
21- Just before Samos another front moved in, the look on Monique's face
says the rest ;-)
24-05-08 Saturday
Samos
Rest day.
Today we did just about nothing. After checking out the free laundry
service of the hotel, (yes you read correct “FREE”) we took a walk
through this tiny village before we retired to a nice and long siesta
and waited for the kitchen to open for our diner.
And again the dinner did not disappoint, we had the pilgrims menu at 9
euros, and we had to force ourselves to finish, again great kitchen.
Tomorrow we have a longish day before our final destination of Santiago de
Compostela. We just hope the weather improves a little.
1- Statue of a pilgrim in Samos.
2- This is one of the oldest Monastery's in Spain.
3- With a gas station on the front/rear.
4- And the side along the river. Not much more to take pictures off in
this village.
5- Monique reading about the history of this place.
6- Yours truly, posing without shoes, hehe, they were getting dry in our
room.
7- Pre roman chapel with a very old Cypress tree next to it.
25-05-08 Sunday
Samos to Castaneda
7 hrs 12.2 Av. 85kms Total 2380kms
Woke up at 07:00 and were on the road by 08:00. We had our coffee paid
our bill and were on our way pretty quick.
The sun was out on this clear morning and we felt pretty good after the rest
day. But I must say it was real cold, looking back it was not such a
good idea to send back the winter gloves as our hands were frozen.
The road was very scenic and there was quite a bit of mist in the valleys
below. And after a few small hills we were heading downhill into Sarria
and a very thick cold fog. In the center of town we found an open bakery
and got some supplies before we started the climb back out of this
valley.
The climbing was OK but we knew there was a very long climb
coming up after Portomarin of over 350m with the first km at over 10%.
Now there were many small hills before but it went very smooth,
especially in the morning.
The area around Portomarin is very nice indeed and cycling along the LU-633
was great. After Portomarin the long awaited big hill came and went, we
were really worried about nothing it was hard but doable.
Just before Palas de Rei we got on the N547 which was smooth but the rolling
hills did not stop. We continued on this road for a while and as the day
wore on the weather began to close in again.
We stopped in the town of Melide and looked for a Hostel but the only place
we saw looked rough so we continued on. Now so far we have been
following the Camino route from the book by Clemens Sweerman, and the
route he has chosen turned off the N547 at Melide but we decided to stay
on the N547 all the way to Santiago.
After Boente there is this nasty climb to Castaneda and that’s where we saw
this other touring couple walking towards what looked like a B&B so we
stopped and asked them and sure enough we found out they stayed here
before and when the owner showed up she said she had a free room. WOW we
felt lucky to have found this because as soon as we got inside it
started to rain again, we had a tough day and were not sure if
there were anything else ahead.
Later on while having this (I’ll try to be nice here) ok meal, we had a nice
chat with our new friends Thomas and Lidia from Germany. They are just a
couple like-minded people who love to tour.
We hope to run into them
again in the future.
1- Heading out of Samos on the LU-633, very early in
the morning.
2- Santiago 142kms.
3- And a picture of the long early morning shadow.
4- Cold and clear morning and the mist is still down in the valleys.
5- Heading into Sarria.
6- Panoramic view of the Rio Loio near Portomarin.
7- Looking North, along the Rio Loio.
8- Looking back at the bridge we crossed on the Rio
Loio.
9- Portomarin.
10, 11- Climbing yet another hill. We wandered what that thing was.
12- Cresting another hill.
13- We first met this guy in Astorga, and we saw him a couple of times
always ahead of us, bloody cheat :-)
14- Heaving diner with Thomas and Lidia, the nice like minded couple we
met near Castaneda.
26-05-08 Monday
Castaneda to Santiago de Compostela
4 hrs 11.8 Av. 47 kms Grand total 2427kms.
Woke up at 07:00 and had breakfast with the Thomas and Lidia before we
got back on the road. By the time we got underway it started to rain
again and it rained and rained and rained all the bloody 47kms to
Santiago.
There were also many long and dragging hills along the N547 which made this
last day or our tour real trying. About 20kms into the ride we stopped
for a couple omelets and some coffee before we continued on and we ran
into this two Spanish guys we’ve seen several time before along the
route. Unfortunately they don’t know a word of English so the chatting
was minimal.
Just after the airport in the outskirts of Santiago the sky opened up again
and it came down by the bucket full. We were getting quite fed up with
this damn weather by now, it’s not like we wished for sunshine but just
to be dry, we only had a few kms to go so…
We rode into the center and made a bee line for the Cathedral for the
traditional photo’s before looking for a place to stay.
We checked out a few Hostels but either they were too far from the center,
too expensive, didn’t want cyclists (no place for the bike’s) or didn’t
have own shower.
After a couple hours searching we came across this place, not the cleanest
but it clicked most of the boxes, 5 min. walk from the
center, decent bar right next door and reasonably priced (40 euros)
which we thought very good considering the location.
After taking care of business we went into the center to get information on
the best way to get to Porto, and also find out where Soeters is, that’s
the company that we will send our bikes back home with. Having taken
care of all that it was time for a Doner kabab and a few beers.
While walking around town we heard somebody screaming “Bon Camino” and when
we looked we saw one of the Spanish guys hanging out of a taxi waving at
us, those guys also seemed happy to have made it.
We seen many people that we’ve met on the road on our way here and it was
nice seeing them again and just saying a hello.
It was also very nice just to sit back in the evening over a couple beers
near our room and talk about our experiences of this difficult but also
very rewarding tour.
1- I thought it was a nice sign/marker of the Camino
just before Santiago.
2- Finally reached Santiago.
3- The Cathedral towers.
4- Monique's smile say it all.
5- With all the hardships we endured, it was an emotional time for both
of us.
6- And a large picture our bike posing in front of
this very beautiful cathedral.
7- Taken from the Cathedral entrance. You can see the next storm moving
in.
8- Soon after we came out the heavens opened up.
9- And it came down by the bucket.
27-05-08 Tuesday
Santiago de Compostela
Well we slept in this morning, fell out of bed around 10(ish) got some
coffee, unloaded the bikes and a few other items at Soeters to be
sent back home and just walked around town playing tourist.
We were planning to head for Finisterre, but time and the weather did not
allow. Also we thought an extra day to visit Porto would be much better
than Finisterre.
We feel it was the right choice as later the sky opened up again and it
started to rain heavily.
We went back to the Cathedral for the special noon mass they hold for the
pilgrims, and it was a very emotional experience for us and we think all
the pilgrims should check out.
After the mass everyone greeted each
other, shook hands and hugged.
A perfect finish to our tour.
1, 2- Taken during the special service for all the
pilgrims at noon each day. Standing room only.
3, 4, 5 & 6- Several pictures of Santiago.
28-05-08 Wednesday
Santiago de Compostela to Porto.
Today was a day of traveling. We took the cab to the bus station got a
couple tickets to Porto laid back and enjoyed the ride.
The bus stopped at the airport in Porto and we went inside and asked about a
B&B nearby. Sure enough there was one not 100m away. Clean, cheap and
50m from the metro that went to the center of town.
A perfect place
to spend an extra day, visit Porto and be close to the airport.
Again today even being in the bus the weather was horrible with heavy
showers coming every couple hours.
29-05-08 Thursday
Porto
Played the tourist today, got on the metro and headed for the center. I
must say the metro here is very clean and efficient. It was a very fast
ride into town.
We walked around a bit a took plenty of pictures. We found Porto to be cheap
but also very dirty and we’ve seen it after several days of rain which
isn’t good. We couldn’t imagine it being 35c, probably not a very good
experience.
Later we found the river and also the very high bridge over it, took a few
more pictures before this new storm blew with great speed and ferocity
which forced everyone indoors.
When it slowed a bit we got out, climbed to the top of the bridge for some
pictures and slowly headed back to our room.
We only got out for something to eat and when we returned another real
ferocious storm blew in. We just hoped it would clear by morning so we
could have a smooth flight home.
Following are some pictures of Porto, enjoy :-)
30-05-08 Friday
Porto to Brussels
Got up slowly this morning and made our way to the airport. We had a
couple hours to kill so we just read the papers and had coffee.
This was our best tour so far. It has been the longest tour for us and we
rode through France and Spain, two of the countries we truly love. We
met people from all over the world and stay in contact with a few.
Riding the Camino to Santiago de Compostela is a ride we highly recommend to
anyone that rides a bike. And we take our hats off to all those who walk
it.
It has been a very nice vacation and a great experience, one that we will
always remember.
Bon Camino
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