Date: 2 October 2018

Departure Time:  09:30 am
Arrival Time: 11:30 am
Distance: 8.1 kms
Cumulative Distance: 592.1 kms
Percentage Completed: 64.06 %
Accommodation: Hotel Los Templarios
Weather: Sunny day – 25 degrees

Today was a planned very short walk to Ponferrada. The town hosts a medieval Templar castle and we were keen to spend some time in town exploring it. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we enjoyed seeing the castle and sitting around the plaza enjoying coffee, sangria and gin and tonic (not all at once). As we have slowed down a little, most of our pilgrim friends are now ahead of us which is somewhat sad. As this was almost a rest day we did the laundry, did some shopping and had a very leisurely breakfast. Our bodies are holding up really well. 

Tomorrow is a 23 kilometre walk to Villafranca del Bierzo, through a mixture of semi urban and rural landscapes. We hope we get some sleep tonight as  we were “smart enough “ to book a “landmark “ view of the church bells – and that only means one thing ….