26th September, Camino Sanabres to Rionegro del Puente

A quick photo call at the 12th century church of Santa Marta de Tera:

A 7.20am start under clear skies meant yet another cold start, they’re becoming something of a bad habit. The first few hours of unexciting walking were in the shade of trees which didn’t help.

The benefit of sunshine wasn’t felt until we crossed the River Tera, and then it got really hot:

More troglodyte dwellings:

In search of a late breakfast / early lunch in Calzadilla de Tera, we passed the ruined and abandoned church dedicated to Saints Justa and Ruffina (Santa Justa y Ruffina). The two sisters were martyred in the 3rd Century – you can read a bit about them here.

There’s a very atmospheric photograph here.

It’s a damned shame that so many of these wonderful churches have been allowed to fall into such states of disrepair. It can’t be that long before these buildings collapse all together.

It was another couple of Km before refreshments were found, in the village of Olleros de Tera:

Blink and you miss it:The village shop. There was nothing to identify this as a shop other than an advertising poster for ice cream in one of the windows. 

 

 I do like grapes….

…..lots!

 Matthew giving an apres-lunch performance.

To The Trout Inn

Another locked church: Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Agavanzal

I managed this shot through a peep-hole in the front door

 Route choice: left for bicycles

The dam across….this:

 Embalse de Nuestra Señora de Agavanzal

Which was full of enormous fish:

At Villar de Farfon a small Albergue offered very welcome refreshments to passing walkers. The place was run by a South African family who have dedicated themselves to missionary work. We were certainly grateful for their efforts. Within a minute of walking through the door we were offered cold drinks and biscuits – all they asked for was a donation. I hope we were generous.

 

A couple of hours later we rolled up at Rionegro del Puente. En-route to the village I snapped this, just for Alan:

We arrived in a cookingly hot Rionegro del Puente and made straight for the wonderful Albergue:

Things were to get even better. Across the road from the Albergue was a rather splendid restaurant:

This place was run single-handedly by one man….well I suppose it would. Although it could have been run single-handedly by one woman. Whatever.

Our chef / waiter / everything else, served excellent fare (including wine and seemingly unlimited amounts of the local rocket fuel) for norralot of dosh – 10 Euros.

We all slept well that night.

Well we would have done had it not been for the burping, farting and general racket coming from a bunch of cycling peregrinos who were sharing our dorm. Oh well.

And the storms that were forecast? They just didn’t happen.

25th September, Camino Sanabres to Santa Marta de Tera

…although still on the Via de la Plata

Another chilly start – and storms still forecast. We were up and about in good time to grab some breakfast, there was plenty of bread.

Matthew’s knee injury seemed to be settling down, he was clearly a happy bunny:

Once out the village of Tabara our route followed clearly marked tracks. Maps weren’t needed, our way was well signposted:

We didn’t stop here – but it certainly looked tempting. Some Albergues are ‘municipal’. Others are private, like this one.

Villanueva and lunchtime. It was quite (=very) hot and we were in need of a cuppa and something to eat. A tiny Villanueva pussycat hopped on to Vanessa’s guitar….actually it was Matthew’s, she was just carrying it. Said pussycat had clearly decided that hitching a ride was a bit of a lark and didn’t really want to disembark any time soon:

Being a bit of a softy, Vanessa got quite worried about her new friend. She was convinced, probably quite correctly, that it had been abandoned. A few minutes after this chance meeting, the cat was being fed and watered quite royally – milk and sardines.

The ungrateful feline then vanished without even saying thank you. There’s gratitude.

High-tech woodburner. A micro-controller does the clever bit: it monitors combustion and tweaks the various vents to ensure maximum efficiency. Of the three black pipes at the back, one is the flue and the other two convey pumped hot air to different parts of the building. Clever, eh?

Leaving the village we came across some interesting buildings. These were used for storage:

Others were lived in:

 Quite reminiscent of Kinver Edge.

Ruins of a mud-walled house

Hot, hot, hot…in Santa Croya de Tera

Santa Croya de Tera had a private Albergue. At 10Euros per night it was cheap enough, but there wasn’t a kitchen. We continued a little further, across the river, to the next village of Santa Marta de Tera where there was a modern municipal Albergue:

Heaven knows how much this place cost to put together: dormitory accommodation was good, the kitchen was good, showers superb, there was a coin-controlled washing machine. Unfortunately the place hadn’t been cleaned for quite a long time – the beds looked suspiciously grubby. We were expecting a hospitalero to roll up to collect our donations but none came.

The church in Santa Marta de Tera:

  Statue of Santiago peregrino at the back of Santa Marta de Tera church

After a good meal (and a few beers) in the local bar/restaurant I retired to my dorm in the albergue – but not before smothering my arms in Deet. I really didn’t fancy another night being eaten by bedbugs.

24th September, Via de la Plata, to Tabara

Bloody freezing…again

We left the Albergue around 7am, it was buzzing with activity whilst the village was still asleep. It was a damned cold start to the day.

The Camino splits here: north towards Astorga and Camino Frances, or west towards Orense to follow Camino Sanabres. I went west. Camino Frances will wait until next year.

 Route choice time

Red in the morning… 

There were thunder & lightning flash-bangs during the previous night, the weather forecast wasn’t good either: a couple of days of thunder storms were promised.

Follow the yellow arrows and you won’t go far wrong 

First objective of the day was to cross the Puente Quintos , the bridge over the Rio Esla. The photo below shows me in a really happy mood with said bridge in the background.

That’s a smile….I promise.

The prospect of bit of a scramble on t’other side of the bridge to gain a rather rocky path had Vanessa, well not exactly going into panic mode, but getting a little nervous. It certainly looked treacherous from a distance. As it was, it was a doddle and we three intrepid pilgrims scooted across in fine style. 

After only a little bit of an uphill tug we were rewarded with good views of the Rio Esla. 

At the top of the ‘hill’ we came across what appeared to be an archaeological dig. 

…and then the first signs of our accommodation for that night 

The coolness of the early part of the day had vanished, it was now damned hot. We’d not eaten much so when we arrived in Faramontanos de Tabara we searched out the first decent looking bar / restaurant for refuelling. I’m really not a walker who has beer during a walk (it’s a completely different story AFTER a walk!) but today I made an exception. A couple of cold beers and a bocadillo really hit the spot.

The lady behind the bar was eyeing up Matthew’s guitar, he didn’t need any more encouragement:

Mattew’s singing even brought some people in from outside – I’m sure the bar owners appreciated the extra business!

The church tower was easily accessible and it afforded a lovely view across the slumbering town – it was siesta time and everything stops for siesta around here. A very gentle ‘ding’ of the church bell resulted in a loud DONG – a much louder sound than we expected. I wouldn’t wonder that some of the town’s inhabitants thought thee ringing of the bell was heralding an imminent invasion or something.

It wasn’t me. Honest.

I tried to photograph this goat as he was chewing at the lower branches of a tree, but by the time I’d pressed the shutter it was just too late. Or too early. This was the best of the very many shots I took….and that’s not saying much. 

Entering the village of Tabara I spotted this German Triumph 900 Thruxton. The owner had fitted a modified final drive: inverted tooth belt. Why on earth more motorcycle manufacturers don’t adopt belt drive I just don’t know. It can’t be that more expensive than chain drive and it lasts so much longer, is virtually maintenance-free….and it’s CLEAN.

Speed the Plough

Lion Country

Another beer (or was it two?) was needed before getting to the albergue at the other side of the village. This really was a splendid place. José, the hospitalero, is a lovely chap who ran the place like clockwork. He wouldn’t let anyone dive in to help him prepare meals, he had it all in hand and did it most efficiently.

The dorm in the albergue 

Dinner is served by our hospitalero. Gracias, José!

A good night’s sleep followed. This was A Very Good Thing, I’d been waking up at 1.30am most mornings and hadn’t been able to get back to sleep – until about 10 minutes before it was time to get up.

Oh, and the storms? It was a load of cobblers, we had no rain at all – just lovely skies all day.

23rd September, Via de la Plata, to Granja de Moreuela

A hungry start to the day

We headed down for breakfast at around 7am. Alas all the bread had been snaffled by two ‘voleur de pain des femmes’, leaving all the other peregrinos breakfastless.

We know who you are…and where you’re from!

We set out (hungrily) to meet up with the hopefully recovered Matthew in Granja de Moreuela…try saying that after a night in the pub!

 Ermita de la Virgen del Castillo

One of the features of this section of the walk is the huge number of really interesting buildings – the old churches especially. The bad news is that most of these churches are locked to prevent bread  stuff being stollen stolen.

I don’t hold a grudge. Honest. But we were hungry.

‘The Stand Pipe’…more of a bothy really. Perhaps I should tell them. 

Lots of irrigation channels around here, perhaps how the building got it’s name.

The ruins of Castrotarafe

Castrotarafe has more than a bit of history behind it: reputedly dating from Roman times, it was inhabited until the eighteenth century. It’s castle was the seat of the Knights of the Order of Santiago. It’s one-time commercial claim to fame was that it controlled traffic across the River Esla.

And you thought I knew nowt….just goes to show, eh?

 Vanessa posing by one the many stone information plaques on the route, this one in Fontanillas de Castro

The parting of the ways: the Via de la Plate becomes El Camino Sanabres if heading off west, a more direct route to Santiago de Compostella. The alternative route northwards to Astorga eventually joins the much busier Camino Frances.

We’d arranged to meet up with an injury-recovered Matthew in Granja de Moreuela – rather hoping that he’s be able to get a bus from Zamora. After a quick beer in the local bar, which was also where we had to register to gain access to the Albergue, the man himself rolled up – guitar slung over his shoulder.

How not to compose a photograph: the Albergue in Granja de Moreuela, with a well fed French lady (she eats too much bread you know) and Patrice…also French, but he doesn’t eat too much bread at all. 

Matthew is an accomplished singer – songwriter with a couple of CDs to his name. He writes some good stuff. Have a listen to some of his songs, you won’t be disappointed.

The Albergue was quite full that night, a group of cycling peregrinos rolled up to join the throng. We had a pleasant evening in the restaurant: a good meal, a couple of beers (or was it vino tinto?) and excellent company. It was good to have Matthew back on board.