Kiwi Pilgrims

7 September 2023

Las Médulas to Sobradelo - 21 kms

What a hard day. We started off well from Las Médulas. The mornings are now cool, so much so that we set off wearing our light merino or fleece plus our warm jackets. Being so cool made for easy walking.

What made today hard was the afternoon heat - and it was hot. It was over 30°C with no shade, and we were in a valley most of this afternoon with heat radiating off the rock walls making it hotter still. And it was cloudless. By the time we arrived in Sobradelo, where we're staying tonight, I was a melting mess.

Leaving Las Médulas this morning we immediately started climbing for quite a way then we had a long descent to Puente de Domingo Flórez, the only town of the day.

We were in luck as we found an open supermarket - very important as we needed to stock up on food for tomorrow. Where we're staying tomorrow doesn't serve meals and, as its Sunday tomorrow, very little will be open. It did mean that we were carrying extra weight in the heat of this afternoon.

We found a great place in Puente de Domingo Flórez to sit and enjoy a picnic lunch from some of the food we had just bought at the supermarket.

Then it was a long hot walk in the valley, following along the Rio Sil. Four large slate works were on one side of the river, the railway line, then the track we were on, then steep hills. The whole way was undulating, with loose granite and/or quartz rock pieces most of the way.

It was wonderful to finally arrive in Sobradelo, shower, wash our clothes, and rehydrate. It's amazing how restorative that is.

Today we left Castello y León and entered Galicia. Puente de Domingo Flórez is in Castille y Leon but as soon as we walked over a bridge from the town we were in Galicia.

And as soon as we entered Galicia the mojones showed the distance to Santiago de Compostela. This was somewhat disconcerting as, after walking for what we felt was at least a kilometre or two, the mojones said we'd only walked a few hundred metres!

Leaving Las Médulas

Las Médulas

The camino path took us past many chestnut plantations.

Looking back to Las Médulas the the mountain ruins from the Roman gold works could be seen.

Many of the old chestnut trees had massive trunks.

Up in the hills after leaving Las Médulas.

Warm jackets are off but I'm still wearing my light merino.

We walked past areas covered in what appeared to be holm oaks or a closely related oak. The holm oaks in Spain, where they are natives, are so stunted compared to the holm oaks we have on our front lawn at home.

In the way we passed this this memorial to a 72 year old who died in the Camino several years ago.

Entering the town of Puente de Domingo Flórez

A small church in Puente de Domingo Flórez. It was locked.

Puente de Domingo Flórez.

A fabulous find - an open supermarket.

In Puente de Domingo Flórez - with a bag of groceries for lunch and the next few days.

When we left the supermarket and walked past the small church again and we noticed it's door was open. Two ladies standing in the doorway indicated to us to go inside. It was dedicated to St Roch.

Our lunch spot in Puente de Domingo Flórez

While we were having lunch this chap stopped to talk to us. I used Google Translate to tell him we couldn't understand, and that we were from New Zealand. After a while he carried on his way but he soon returned and talked to us nonstop - we only wished we knew what he was saying.

Walking over the bridge from Castello y León to Galicia.

...and immediately the mojon showed the distance to Santiago de Compostela.

The Rio Sil was dammed just out of Puente de Domingo Flórez forming a lake. Jeff really liked the slate table and seats.

The sun was blazing down on us and any shade the trees may have given in past is long gone. The trees were destroyed by a large forest fire a few years ago. Some are starting to regenerate but most were completely destroyed.

Coming into the small town of Pumares. There were no services there but we did find a stall which had a stamp for us to use in our credentials.

Pumares.

Pumares

We walked past the ruins of an old settlement.

Aparently this was an old oven.

I was absolutely melting by this time.

...the heat was almost unbearable.

Finally Sobradelo came into view.

In Sobradelo

And at long last Bar Mar - our albergue for tonight.

6 October 2023

Borrenes to Las Médulas - 17 kms

We more or less had a day off the Camino today. We left the camino path 3.5 kilometres from Borrenes and made our way up to see the remains of Roman gold works above Las Médulas. Had we walked directly from Borrenes to Las Médulas it would have been only 7 kilometres, but the route we took added another 10 kilometres to our day.

The remains of the goldmine above and around Las Médulas are from the most important goldmine in the Roman Empire. Large scale production began in 77 AD, using up to 60,000 workers at it's peak and extracted over 6,000 kilograms of gold annually.

The technique used was called ruina montium, mountain destruction. Galleries were dug into the mountain and large volumes of water, sourced from up to 70 kilometres away, were forced into the galleries to collapse the mountainside.

What is visible today is the result of the destruction of the mountain caused by the mining. If a goldmining company in New Zealand left such destruction there would be a massive outcry. Instead, here in Las Médulas, the ruins of the mountain are now a protected UNESCO site and a major tourist attraction.

After leaving the camino path from Borrenes, we followed a road up to the Mirador de Orellán, the lookout point at 990m - a 540m climb.

We were able to go into a remaining gallery and walk along it to an opening which gave a view out over the destruction.

From there we walked down to the village of Las Médulas on a track through holm oaks and chestnuts. It was a very steep descent on a rocky uneven path.

Tomorrow we'll be be back on the Camino proper again.