Spain and Portugal – Las Medulas to Astorga

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Las Medulas to Astorga

We wake late here on the cemetery car park at Las Medulas in Northern Spain. The sun flashes between the mountains in a totally clear sky at 08.51, the intense beams of the sunrise streaming over the land, I grab my camera and photograph it as it rises.

We breakfast and move on from Las Medulas heading for Molinasea and the Roman Villa at La Olmeda, taking the N-536 back to Cercado and Ponferrada where we call at Carrefour supermarket for supplies.

The LE-142 takes us to Molinaseca and we park on the same Aire as in March 2020 just before lockdown. The town is just as we remembered: Rio Meruelo crossed by the old Roman bridge with safe area for swimming beneath it, the same narrow streets full of pilgrim hostels and café/bars with the Pilgrim’s cross and water fountain at one end and the same church at the other. We walk from the Pilgrim’s cross to the church, hearing many pilgrim conversations along the way. At the church we pause and reflection the last two and a half years.

Nothing has changed but everything has changed. On a bench under the olive tree a man is sitting and, with an American accent welcomes us to the church of San Nicolas. We talk and he tells us he is American and emigrated from America to Spain after completing the Camiño which changed his life. He now lives in Molinaseca and has given his life to looking after the church here.

We spend some time in quiet reflection in the cool and peace of the church thinking about my friend Tina in Dublin who is very sick. Back in the brilliant sunshine we walk to the Hymer and leave both the busy-ness and the peace of Molinaseca.

The LE-142 takes us to Ponferrada and onto the A-6, a good road through Bembibre. From here up and up through the mountain pass at Manzanal at 1221m and dropping down to Astorga where we park up at an Area Autocaravanas behind the bullring (now a sports stadium). There are about 12 spaces on level but rough ground with water and servicing facilities (but only one tap for toilet and drinking water). We park up and rest.

It is late afternoon so we have tea of chicken stir fry. In the evening I decide to walk into the town as it has an interesting history. There is evidence of civilization in Astorga since Palaeolithic times and fossil records of the earliest humans in Spain have been found here. The Roman city of Asturica was founded in 14 BC and became an important administrative and military centre.

The walls of the town were built at the time of Ancient Rome and the city had thermal baths with hot, warm, cold-water systems, sauna’s and two main sewer system still in use today. Ruins of Roman baths are still visible. It was strategically important as its location was at the crossroads of the Camino de Santiago (781km/485ml) and the Roman Silver Road, the ancient Roman commercial route connecting Astorga to Merida, the trade route for gold removed from Las Medulas. This Roman causeway extended for 900 km, important to the Romans because of the gold mines of Las Medulas and the copper mines of Rio Tinto.

I walked the mile or so into the town in the setting sun, meeting a section of Roman walls which are still in evidence. I headed for the cathedral and the town was busy as a service had just finished (it is Saturday). I was hoping to slip inside the cathedral for a quick look around, but the steward must have wanted to get home for his tea as he said ‘No’ and was anxious to lock up.

The 19th century Bishop’s palace designed by Gaudi and Gothic cathedral of Santa Maria built in 1471 both have spectacular architecture and are worth visiting, for me only on the outside. I milled around with hundreds of others, passing the Roman baths, the chocolate factory and museum and many bars and cafes, obviously the place that families visited on Saturday night after mass. I returned to the Hymer well after dark.

Gallery Las Medulas to Astorga

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