Left the pretty little town of Molinaseca at 8:30 today after a huge breakfast served by Mitti, the Basque owner of the hostel I stayed in. I hadn’t actually booked into his hostel – when I turned up at the place I had booked, the receptionist said “English Nick?”. I said yes and was shipped across the road to another hostel. Actually it was fine, with a decent sized room and bathroom although the shower was the weirdest one I’ve experienced yet – no temperature control, just 2 minutes of water and then it cut out. Also the wifi password was insanely long - over 20 random characters. Perhaps Mitti didn't want people watching movies while taking a shower.
The bridge at Molinaseca
Walked about 5 miles to the town of Ponferrada. It has a lot of bland suburbs, through which I walked, but at its heart was a very pretty old town and a well-preserved Templar castle. Would have loved to spend some time exploring but it was, of course, closed. I think this was down to it being a Monday – or a day with the letter “a” in it or something.
Templar Castle, Ponferrada
Almost as exciting as the Templar castle was this nest I saw on the way out of town. If you zoom in you may just be able to see what I saw – a pair of chicks sticking their heads up out of the nest.
Stork chicks
Aside from castles and storks today was a long hot walk, covering the last of the plain that makes up the valley of the Bierzo. Surrounded by mountains, this area has a micro-climate all of its own. The sign below shows it was 33.
Getting hotter
In Villafranca del Bierzo, my resting point for today, I met up with a bunch of fellow pilgrims. I’m now getting to the point where I am meeting people who plan to arrive at Santiago at about the same time as me. Other people are getting to the point where they are cheating – hitching rides, catching buses etc. It really was very hot!
The square in Villafranca
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