Part 1 - September 17
Acebo was a beautiful mountain town that we reached after quite the vertical descent. In fact, as you finally descended into the town you immediately faced a small outdoor bar. It seemed like everyone made that their first stop for a cold beer and small plate of olives. I had just sat down when a young guy from Toronto whom I had met on the descent, hobbled into view. He joined me for a cool one and then before long the table was full of sweating, thirsty peregrinos. Most climbing and descending paths tend to be extremely uneven and very rocky.
Leaving there we had a pleasant stroll for about 3 km, and then we were into the downhill again. Quite steep into Molinaseca. This town is realy not something I had expected. It had a rather Alpine appearance in its architecture. Would not have been surprized to hear German being spoken. The temperature was quite cool as well. A lot of very interesting bars/restaurants and casa rurals.
The walk into Ponferrade was spectacularly uninteresting, through suburbs and industrial areas. However, old town Ponferrada is a gem. From the Templars castle (that dominates the landscape) to the winding medieval streets and plazas and outdoor cafes, I enjoyed every minute of it. Part of that enjoyment was probably based on taking a holiday from albergues. Speaking some days previously with a German couple they shared their secret, when hitting a larger town, of visiting the tourism office and asking after cheap casa rurales, etc. Anyway, the upshot was that I ended up in an amazing wonderful restoration of an old hotel. Beautiful room with view of the Templar Castle, AND A PRIVATE WASHROOM!!
Dinner time. Will try to bring this up to date before the night is over.... including the wonderful wine country around Cacabelos and the spectacular mounttop town of O´Cebreiro.
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