Climbing the Camino: Puebla de Sanabria to Padornelo

 "Mountains teach that not everything in life is a race."

Camino Sanabrés Stage 5 / Via de la Plata Stage 29

Thankfully, the accommodations we stayed at last night were quiet, and after yesterday's long hike, we had a good night's sleep.  Even so, when the alarm went off at 6:00 AM, we could still feel the residual aches and pains of yesterday’s long stage.  After some effort, we got up, made our usual breakfast of instant coffee, bread and jam in the room, and were ready to head out shortly after 6:30 AM.

Return to the Camino 

We followed the paved road that skirts around the base of the old town for a few hundred meters without a single car passing us by.  It was a very quiet Sunday morning, and no one was stirring outside the houses that were scattered along the road at the base of the hill.  Soon, we turned off the pavement towards the river and began following a quiet grassy track along its forested banks.

Although it was cool in the treed river corridor, the air was warmer than it had been so early in the morning on previous days, signalling a rise in temperature over the coming week. This morning, however, the sun had not yet peeked over the horizon, and everything was drenched in heavy dew. 

Beside us was a stream bed which, at first, was a shallow, somewhat smelly red sludge, but as we progressed, it became a running stream. It was very quiet and peaceful down by the water, with only the sounds of the birds and the river to keep us company.  There were several groups of Mallards swimming in the water, and one set splashed noisily into the middle of the river as we passed.  In addition to this, we noticed lots of the large black 'banana' slugs that are found throughout Galicia.

We followed the river for a few kilometres, quietly watching as the sun rose and turned the fields and trees beyond our quiet corridor to gold.  It was a magical walk, and quite easy going.  Watching the world wake up is one of our favourite times of day, and this morning the quiet solitude felt magical.

Eventually, the trees gave way to extremely wet pastureland, and our track became slightly muddy. 

Birds along the Way 

Just when we were beginning to despair at the growing size of the puddles, we spotted two Little Ringed Plovers running along the edge of one, which greatly cheered us up.  As we were watching them, we also spotted a Western Yellow Wagtail perched on a nearby stalk of grass, its lemon-yellow belly shining like a tiny sun.  Stopping to watch them gave us a break, which helped us slow down, enjoy the sunshine, and take a minute to appreciate the delicate wildflowers that were decorated with dewdrops.

As the Camino returned to the roadway, we passed a gravel pit and two posts near the entrance, each with a White Stork nest on top.  The young in the nests sat very low and looked downy and fluffy, a striking contrast to the nestlings we'd seen in southern Spain, where already a few weeks ago the young had pinfeathers on their wings and were flapping around, practicing for their first flight.

The next few kilometres were an easy road walk along a paved highway bordered by wet meadows.  The dew on the grasses looked sparkled in the morning light, and our shadows were long as we trekked down the shoulder of the roadway.  At one point, our GPX tracks indicated that the Camino detoured into the fields, but the way was blocked by a deep stream, so we stayed on the road until the Camino rejoined it a little farther along.

Forest Trails and Fieldstone Walls

Finally, around 9:00 AM, when the sun was already beginning to feel warm on the back of our necks, we diverted off the road onto a forested track.  Tall trees created a sunlit corridor, and we noticed that many of the branches were covered in mosses and lichens.  The sides of the track were bordered by white broom and yellow gorse, and the warm air held the strong, sweet smell of their blossoms.

Very shortly after setting off up the track, we saw the spire of a small stone church sticking up above a fieldstone wall.  It was topped with a bright red Santiago cross, and the wooden door of the church was covered in carved scallop shells. 

It had a deep porch with a stone bench tucked underneath, and we took the opportunity to take a short break in the shade.  Opposite the churchyard was a grove of tall, old chestnut trees with low-hanging branches, and it felt like a very peaceful spot.  

Torroso Spain

After our break, we continued on through the tiny village of Terroso.  At the edge of town, we found ourselves walking across a community soccer pitch that had a large stone cross behind the goal at one end.  For some reason, it seemed a strange sight to see the combination of modern recreation and old religion in such close proximity. 

The village itself was a small collection of fieldstone homes that very much had the look and feel of a Galician village, even though we won't cross into that province until tomorrow.  Although it was a very sleepy place, it had spirit, exhibiting several murals, one of which showed a herd of cows.

After passing through the village, we followed the yellow arrows over an overpass that crossed the highway. We spent much of the day crisscrossing this highway and a secondary road beside it, but during this first crossing, there was almost no traffic on it at all.  From there, we set off along another gorgeous, treed track, surrounded for a short time by a wilder-feeling stretch of forest where the randomness and disorganization of untamed nature were still allowed to thrive.

Beetles and Moles

This next stretch of trail was rather muddy, making it a little fiddly to navigate.  In some places, we felt as though the route was more a riverbed than a pathway.  However, we enjoyed the quiet and began noticing the little things, like ants crossing the trail in lines, and an abundance of iridescent metallic beetles that had inexplicably died on the trail.  Their undercarriages were brilliant blue, so they added spots of colour to the landscape that looked like jewels. 

When we entered them on iNaturalist, we learned they are intriguingly named Heath Dumble Dor beetles, and they belong to the dung beetle group.  We also noticed several brown voles and a larger black Iberian Mole, all of which seemed to have expired for unknown reasons in the middle of the path.

Changing Environment

In the next stretch, we found ourselves following a track that was sunk deep into the ground, with the earthen banks on either side towering over us.  A shady tree canopy closed above our heads, and the moist earth banks were covered in lush moss, tiny ferns, and delicate wildflowers.

Gone were the palm trees, yucca plants, and drought-tolerant succulents of farther south on the Via Augusta and Via de la Plata.

Eventually, the lichen and moss-covered trees spaced out more, and we crossed a treed cattle farm.  This helped explain the churned-up and muddy ground, although we never did spot any actual cows. We did, however, spot several little birds gathering nesting material. On the edge of the farm, we popped out onto a track, and this led us back across the highway, which was now much busier. 

Requejo de Sanabria

It was around 10 AM when we arrived in Requejo de Sanabria, the second village on our walk today, and one where many pilgrims choose to end their stage for the day. Walked into the town of Requejo, which, according to the guidebook, is only 12.6 km away from the Portuguese border, making it the closest town to Portugal on the entire Via de la Plata and Camino Sanabrés.  

As we came into town, we passed several interpretive plaques which indicated that the town was located in a ZEC that was designated to protect endangered Red Listed species.

It was a lovely village with a small old stone church and then a much larger one sitting atop a hill as we entered town.  We took a moment to climb up to it, and then headed into town to see if there was an open bar or café.  To our delight, we found a lovely little shop that was a bar, café, and tiny grocery store. 

We sat outside on the patio and had café con leche, as well as two delicious homemade honey cookies.  We also bought a small bag of locally produced anis mini-donuts for later on, which turned out to be delicious!  As we looked around, we noticed that the shop had quite a few food items that a pilgrim could purchase to make a meal, including some pasta and sauce, cheese, sliced ham, bread, yogurt, and more.  It was a great little stop, and we thoroughly enjoyed the break.

Statues, Forests and Frogs

As we continued through the town, we walked down narrow, winding streets lined with long, low fieldstone homes with slate roofs, and overhanging wooden balconies.   Again, it had a very Galician feel.  We also noticed that everywhere we turned, we heard the sound of running water.  We soon discovered the source as fast, clear mountain water was flowing through troughs and in the gutters along the roadside. 

At the far edge of the village, we passed through a lush green treed park with a stone statue of hiking boots and a poem about pilgrims inscribed on it.

Sean stopped to photograph it and to pet one of the many young cats we'd seen basking in the sun around the village. 

As we paused on the shaded street, we could hear the loud croaking and chirping of Iberian Green Frogs nearby, and we stopped to investigate.  Amphibian romance was in full swing in a roadside puddle.  We were delighted to watch as these frogs 'croaked' by filling two small air sacs located on either side of their heads rather than by inflating a single air sac under their 'chins' like the Green Frogs in Ontario do.

Climbing through Mud

Shortly after this intriguing frog discovery, we left the road and began climbing on an old disused asphalt track.  Pretty much from this point onwards, we climbed, not too steeply in most places, but quite relentlessly.  Our efforts would eventually lead us to the highest point on the Camino Sanabrés, somewhere around 1200 m above sea level.

At first, the track was quite easy to follow. It became a rocky footpath that led up through tall mounds of blooming gorse and broom, which made it feel like we were walking through snow.  Slowly, the tree canopy became denser, and we found ourselves following along a steep river valley in the green and gold light of the early afternoon sunshine.  As the trail continued to climb, we could hear the rush of the river down below, and occasionally we would catch a glimpse of a small waterfall through the trees.

As we pushed on, the track became more and more wet.  Water was flowing down the hillside towards the river below, and while it was possible to pick our way across some streams using small stepping stones, in other places the 'trail' was deep, sticky mud.  We worked our way around some of the wettest bits using well-trodden footpaths created by those who came before us.  However, at one point, the trail, which was tracking between two mossy stone walls, gave up and simply became a river itself. 

At this point, we deviated again to make our way around the stream, but found ourselves following a dry footpath that seemed to run parallel to the official Camino.  We opted to stay on this track instead, keeping our feet dry (as possible given the circumstances) as we climbed steadily up along the treed river valley.  It was a beautiful walk, filled with butterflies, large black slugs, and many interesting plants.

Hillside Roads

Eventually, we came out to an intersection where we began following a concrete roadway that switch-backed up a steep hill, beginning far beneath the raised railway bridge, new highway bridge, and an old road bridge.  We began on the concrete, but then spotted a yellow arrow on a broken wooden fence that seemed to be pointing down a gravel track underneath the bridges. 

We didn't think this was correct, as the track looked like it led down to the river instead of climbing, but we obediently followed the arrow anyway. It soon dead-ended in a broken bridge, and we had to backtrack. 

As we advanced a few dozen meters further up the concrete track, we noticed another yellow arrow that hadn't been visible from the road below.  This was a little frustrating, given the elevation differences in the two tracks.

Lizards

For the next 40 minutes or so, we climbed very steeply up on the concrete track.  At this point, it was partly cloudy, and we were extremely grateful for the shade as the wide white road would have been blindingly bright in the full sun, and it would have been extremely hot.

As we huffed and puffed slowly upward, we spotted what was a ridiculous number of large bright green Ocellated Lizards with iridescent blue spots basking on the warm concrete.  Several small brown lizards clung to the wooden guardrails and dove into the cracks in the pavement as we passed. The wooden handrail also had quite a few Lichen Running Spiders clinging to it and hiding in the cracks, likely trying to avoid becoming lunch for the lizards.

As we climbed, we had increasingly nicer views down the treed valley, but somewhat sadly, we could always see the highway, the railway, the utilities towers, the wind turbines, and the communications towers on the surrounding hilltops.  The high degree of development was a bit of a shame, but I guess this mountain has been used for transport and communication for hundreds, if not thousands, of years by now.

When we finally reached the top of the steep ascent, we found ourselves following a disintegrating asphalt lane that led us past some old industrial buildings.  We were grateful for the slower elevation gain, and we stopped often to look at the views down the valleys.  Here we were nearly level with the tallest peaks, which were covered in patches of dark green, bright yellow gorse, and deep purple heather.  The vibrant colours of the hills really stood out against the bright blue sky. 

By this point, we were ready for a break, but there didn't seem to be anywhere convenient to stop.  As such, we sat on the exposed rocks for a bit, looking at the next loop of trail that went under the highway, and then seemed like it would dip down into the bottom of the river valley, before again switching back up to the highway.  We seriously considered diverting onto the old highway to simply cut across the valley instead of doing another steep climb and an unnecessary looking loop.  However, the road went through a long and extremely narrow tunnel, and in the end, we thought it would be too dangerous to risk the shortcut.

As it turned out, the track remained mostly level as we skirted around the end of the valley.  We crossed the river on a bridge and got to look down onto a spectacular waterfall from above as we did so. 

As we made our way back up to the highway, we crossed a sketchy bit of trail, where the crumbling asphalt road looked like it had been undermined by the water flowing beneath it and was poised to tumble down the steep slope.  Happily, we crossed without incident and all was well.

Padornelo 

Finally, we found ourselves climbing on another wide cement track that wove up the mountain, but it was far less steep than the first set of climbs. Soon we came out onto the roadway, which we followed to the edge of Padornelo.  This little stone village was tucked into the side of the mountainside below the highway.  The buildings were long and low, with very thick stone walls, and the slate roofs had metal shields to stop snow sliding off, giving us a hint of what it must be like up in the pass during winter. 

Padornelo was listed as having a church, a bar, and a Tienda, but as we made our way through town, we never saw any of these, despite following arrows for the bar.  Apparently, the amenities were all located along the highway, and we didn't feel inclined to follow the steep streets all the way up to it.  Instead, when we rejoined the highway at the far end of town, we came to a gas station, which also had a bar, restaurant, and hotel. 

We stepped inside for a couple of Aquarius, and to decide whether to continue for another 7 km down to Lubian, or whether to stop here for the night.

Highway Hotel

As we sat in the crowded bar, a group of pilgrims we didn't recognize finished their lunches and headed out where their taxi was waiting.  We were still undecided about what to do when a German lady who began with us in Seville, but whom we haven't seen in a couple of weeks, walked in.  Apparently, she had done a 40 km stage to get here and was stopping for the night.  In our opinion, that would have been a brutal 40 km stage!  To make matters worse, she said she had taken the 'shortcut' through the tunnel on the highway near the end, having made the same incorrect assumption about the trail that we had, and it had been a terrifying experience for her.  Clearly, this possibility is definitely not recommended.

In the end, we decided to stay in Padornelo for the night as well.  We checked in, had showers, did our laundry, and then headed back downstairs for a bocadillo con queso and a drink.  Much of the afternoon was spent on the enclosed patio, looking out over the beautiful mountainous landscape, writing our travel journals, and editing photos.  It felt good to do a short stage after yesterday's 41 km one, and it is a nice landscape to spend time in. 

We are now only about 230 km from Santiago de Compostela, which means that we have between 7 and 9 stages or days left of walking.    

We're hoping tomorrow morning brings a spectacular sunrise, or perhaps a lot of fog in the valley below!

See you on the Way!