Tag Archives: Padornelo

Padornelo to Lubián to Vilavella 

Backpacking, Camino Sanabrés, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, ,

June 4 – Only 5 miles for today  (see yesterday’s post on my mountain wimp-out) but today is my birthday, so why not sleep in?  We strolled downstairs for coffee at 9am, then went back to bed to read The Sunday New York Times online for a while.  On the road at 10 – what a life!  And…. happy birthday to me!  Thanks to everyone who sent greetings!

After two miles walking on the highway, the arrows directed us down to an underpass. Spain has been very good to us peregrinos, creating underpasses and overpasses so we don’t risk ourselves crossing busy highways.  Thank you, España!

The view from the second underpass was really quite breathtaking:

From there we walked uphill and down, just drinking in the beauty of the day.

When I was little, my mother warned me not to play behind our neighborhood where the power lines ran – she said they caused brain damage.  Now we walk near power lines nearly every day – sorry Mom!  Too late for this brain!

We gradually descended toward Lubian.

Lubián is an odd little town, half abandoned, falling down stone buildings, and half nice houses with cars.  We are staying at la Casa de Irene, a very nice place:

But when you look next door, a building with a crumbling roof.

This one has no roof at all.  Interested in a fixer-upper?

There are two restaurants in town, and we asked what time they serve food (it is Sunday, and even on a weekday, hours are limited).  Our proprietress let us know that since the peregrinos started coming, everything has changed, and now you can get food anytime.  Progress!

After our menu del dia ( with birthday ice cream), we walked through the quiet town.  

The church was actually open, a very rare thing, and there was Gregorian chant playing softly inside.  More pilgrims progress!

143 miles to go.

June 5 – Do you know the saying: Man plans, God laughs?  Well, the Almighty got a good chuckle this morning, thanks to me.  I was so worried about the big mountain the other day, but it was today’s little mountain, Portela de la Canda, that kicked my butt.  

After a pleasant downhill walk out of Lubián, we saw an old baroque hermitage, Sanctuario de la Tuiza.  Very pretty.

Then the trail took us steeply up a creek bed, with water flowing downhill while we jumped from rock to rock, uphill.  Jim, of course, hopped merrily up, while I had visions of falling and breaking my arm (again!) if I missed a step.  By the end of an hour, I was sweating so hard that steam was rising off me in the morning chill.

Stone slabs were laid down in some spots to help keep our boots dry.

We finally made it to the top, where the view was very nice indeed.

High altitude flora:

At this point, we officially left the province of Zamora and the region of Castillo y Leon, and crossed into the province of Ourense and the region of Galicia – our final region!  

As we celebrated by shouting, “Galicia!  Yahoo!”, a group of Spaniards came up behind us and joined our cheer.

From there it was all downhill to the little town of Vilavella.  There is no alburgue here, but Googlemaps showed a hostal on the highway, a ten minute walk from the trail, so that is where we are staying tonight.

135 miles to go.

Puebla de Sanabria to Requejo de Sanabria to Padornelo

Backpacking, Camino Sanabrés, Flashpacking, Hiking, Spain, Travel, ,

June 2 – Left our comfy Hotel Victoria for an 8 mile walk to Requejo de Sanabria.  Another cool, clear morning. We crossed a bridge over the Rio Castro to exit Puebla, and followed the river for the first hour or so.

After leaving the river, which involved some rock hopping and wet boots, our route ran mostly along the roadside, sometimes on the asphalt, and sometimes on a tractor path next to the highway.  Then we entered a shady wood.

The woods took us to the tiny, mostly abandoned village of Terroso, and a path to a Santiago church.

Walking staff and shells of St. James:

More shells on the door:

Although the church is locked, there is a small shrine by the side door.  As I approach it the light comes on.  It is St. James, and a little plate with an image of Our Lady of Fatima.

We continue down the path to see a St. James cross:

St. James is in the middle:

And I guess a grumpy Madonna and child on top:

Shady trails the rest of the way to Requejo.  

In Requejo, there were two hotels on the main road, with an alburgue between.  At the first hotel, the proprietress waved us off and told us to go to the alburgue, although the hotel didn’t look like it had many customers.  I guess she didn’t want to deal with hikers.  At the Hotel Mar Rojo, we were given a comfy room and a good meal.  155 miles to go.

June 3 – Only six miles planned for today, and I will tell you why.  When we started walking in Sevilla, the terrain was perfectly flat.  Then we started gaining elevation, and the trail was a little more challenging:

Our guidebook informed us that today we would climb to the highest point of this Camino, with an elevation profile like this:

So I overreacted just a bit, and asked Jim to break up the hike to Lubian with a night at Padornelo, at the top of the mountain.

Our first few miles were entirely on the highway.

Then we walked through a construction detour:

By mid morning the road began to climb:

And before you could say “Bob’s your uncle”, we were at the summit.

All that to say, the big climb was just not such a much, and we were at our hotel by 11am.  I definitely could have made it to Lubian…

But instead we are in Padornelo, with a very nice view from our window:

And a quaint little church:

Where the townsfolk care enough to write their name on the hillside:

…and take their horses for walks at the gas station:

And the mist rolls down the mountain in the evening.

149 miles to go.