Day 28 – Walking the Camino De Santiago – Foncebadon to Ponferrada – Knights Of Templar

We had a long walk across the mountain range from Focebadon to Ponferrada on the Camino De Santiago so we set off early that morning.

Roughly 28km of hilly terrain was going to take us across some of the most stunning scenery and rugerous terrain down into the low lands and into Ponferrada.

The Albergue in foncebadon was beautiful and warm. They served us a delicious vegan dinner and we got to sit by the open fire while someone played the guitar that evening.

All our clothes and boots had dried by the morning, and we set off on a foggy morning crunching our way through the deep snow. Parts of the camino had frozen over night after the rain the previous day so at times we had to take it very slowly and watch our footing as we negotiated the sheets of ice.

We passed the highest point on the camino, which is supposed to be a special place to stop, but it was too cold and windy at that altitude and we needed to get down the mountain incase the weather closed in and we got caught in a blizzard.

We had already heard about groups of pilgrims being airlifted or rescued in some way from the hills and mountains of the camino that week.

On our descent we came across a small community of houses and a refuse of the Knights of Templar. It was like being thrown back in time as we entered the refuse. A man in with a long beard sporting the knights of templar garb and famous red cross emblem was sawing some wood.

Another man invited us in for coffee. We sat around a round table, that may have been the original round table from King Arthur. there was a few books on the table. One was a medicinal plants guide, another was A Codex for Knights Of Templar and the third I don’t recall, but was something of a mystical nature.

I sat there a while and soaked it all up and imagined what it would have been like being a Knight of Templar and being a guardian of the camino de santiago all those years ago.

As we were leaving we met with a woman who spoke good English and she lived in the community of 12 houses that were dotted around the area. She said that there were some hardships living up in the clouds, so I asked her why she did it. She looked me in the eye and said “The Camino”.

She lived there because of the energy and information she received from the camino. This is not something that can really be understood by the intellectual mind, but was very real.

We continued our descent out of the snow and ice and as we walked we also basked in the beauty and energy of the environment, the sun now on us and the wind on the other side of the mountain, the feeling was incredible.

That evening we arrived in Ponferrad at 7.30 in the evening after dark. It had been a long day of over 10 hours walking the Camino De Santiago, but both for Victoria and I, it was our favourite day on the Santiago Trail so far, and for little Indigo as well I am sure.

P.S.We are able to take a month out to walk the camino as we earn a passive residual income online. Want to do the same? Just click below to find out more.