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Stage 23

Stage of Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo

km 24,1

Time 05H 30’

Difficulty Medium

Hostels 14

Available without an Internet connection

La Hoya del Biezo offers a plain surrounded by mountains. Spectacular!

Information about the stage 23: Stage of Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo

Enlarge map

Points of interest in the stage 23: Stage of Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo

3 Albergue de la Piedra
2 Refugio Ave Fénix de Familia Jato
1 Albergue Municipal Villafranca del Bierzo

The route

Km 0. Ponferrada (All Services)

We leave the hostel on La Loma Street and continue along the streets Pregoneros and El Temple, which leads to Avenida del Castillo. The church of San Andres gives way to the castle of the Templars, which we border it along Gil and Carrasco Street. At one point, bike pilgrims continue on the left and walkers on the right to the immediate plaza of the Virgen de la Encina. Already in the square we turn left and go down the stairs of the street the Raddiero. We arrive at Avenida de la Puebla, where we cross the river Sil (Km 1,2).

Then we turn right onto the Urdiales Street and then turn right again on the inexhaustible avenue of the Huertas del Sacramento, where the Pimenteras Fountain is located. Later, upon reaching the roundabout where the monument to the Blood Donors rises, it bends to the right by the avenue of Freedom. Number 46 includes the National Energy Museum, a scientific outreach space (more information on what to see and what to do from the previous stage).

The exit of Ponferrada is a long rodeo as instead of advancing west we go north, where Compostilla is located. We welcome the local of the Red Cross and then a passageway through which we arrived at the Town Hall square.

Km 3.7. Compostilla

Next to the Neo-Romanesque chapel, we continue in front of the 4th Avenue, then turn left and immediately right through the 3rd Transversal, where we pass some tennis courts and the football field. We definitely abandoned Compostilla by a paved runway and saved the N-VI by a tunnel (Km 4.7). Vine crops pull the church of San Esteban and the first houses of Columbrians. The region of El Bierzo has excellent conditions for grape cultivation, as it is nestled in a plain surrounded by mountains that prevent the passage of the Atlantic climate. Tints are made with the Mencía variety. After the church of San Esteban we descend gently to cross the CL-631 and enter into the population nucleus.

Km 5.5. Columbrians (Bar. Shops. Pharmacy)

Next to the chapel of San Blas and San Roque we leave Columbrianos on the paved runway that springs to the left hand. The Camino continues between single relatives and small plots where the neighbors settle. At the entrance of Fuentes Nuevos, a cruise with the figures of Santiago Peregrino and Cristo Crucified welcomes the walkers.

Km 8. New Sources (All Services except Hostel)

We enter through Valiña Street, where the chapel of the Divine Christ is located and at his sight a bar frequented by pilgrims. We leave Fuentes Nuevos and, again, by asphalt track we progress to the village of Camponaraya. Crossing Camponaraya (about 1.5 kilometers long) costs us about twenty minutes, crossing through the river Reguera del Naraya.

Km 10.5. Camponaraya (All Services)

We put an end to this population of services of 4,200 inhabitants together with a wine cooperative and a rest area. On a gravel track we reach the A-6 motorway, which we draw for a high pass (Km 11,9). The starting section is the most relaxing of the day. La hoya del Bierzo looks at its best landscape, always dotted with vineyards and chopsticks. Two kilometres and four hundred meters later (Km 14,3) one road is crossed carefully and one road is advanced through the arcén of another to the solar of the Bierzo Designation of Origin Regulatory Council (Km 14,9). The Camino descends and enters Cacabelos on Cimadevilla Street. After the church of Santa Maria - it retains the Romanesque apse - we progress to the river Cúa, flowing from the Sil.

Km 16.6. Cacabelos (All Services)

After crossing the Cua River we meet the Shrine of the Fifth Anguish, on whose perimeter is the hostel of pilgrims. Until Pieros you have to sweat a demanding echo along the arcén of the road LE-713 or old N-VI (has both denominations).

Km 18.5. Pieros (Hostel. Bar at the exit of the population, at the foot of the road)

We continue along the road. Later, at the junction to San Clemente, there is a sign that encourages us to take the variant from the right that approaches Valtuille from Above. It runs through roads although it is not the official and it is somewhat longer. The official route continues along the arcén of the road, which after a wavy section is left on the right by attending a Jacobean mojón (Km 20,8).

On a path of gravel, nicknamed La Virgen, we went by the sculpture studio A. Nogueira and we face a strong climb that gives way to several slides to the first houses of Villafranca del Bierzo. Already on the descent we pass the municipal hostel (on the right), then the Romanesque church of Santiago, which exhibits before us the Door of Forgiveness, and immediately the refuge Ave Fénix. We arrived by the castle and, on the right hand, we went down a few stairs and continued down Salinas and Rinconada Salinas Street to the Water-Ribadeo Street.

Km 24.1. Villafranca del Bierzo (All Services)

The difficulties

Remarks

In images

What to see, what to do

COMPOSTILLA:Compostilla
is a district of Ponferrada created to provide housing, many of them single-family, to the workers of the Endesa Thermal Plant. The Neo-Romanesque church has been occupied since 1940 by a medieval hermitage destroyed in the War of Independence. The old polychrome wood carving of Nuestra Señora del Refugio, from the 12th century, is located at the Archaeological Museum of Ourense.
COLUMBRIANS:Dependent
on Ponferrada since 1837, the place of Conimbrians or Columbrians already appears in documents of the 10th century. The church of San Esteban, located at the entrance and somewhat separated from the center of the population, is 1778.
NEW SOURCES:At
the entrance is the chapel of the Divine Christ. The old hermitage, nicknamed Vera Cruz, was 1662 and cost 300 reais. The current one, which retains the original bell, is from the 2000s and usually rests in it a row of backpacks, as he sees a bar very frequented by pilgrims.
CAMPONARAYA:The
municipality comprises Camponaraya itself and the populations of Narayola, Magaz de Abajo, Hervefinger and Malgoma. Today Camponaraya has over 4,000 inhabitants and in ancient times had two hosts: from Soledad and San Juan de Jaberos. In the nucleus we can find the parish church of San Ildefonso and the chapel of the Virgen de la Soledad. The population is renowned in the organization of major fairs and exhibitions that usually take place in the fairgrounds. It offers all services.
CACABELOS:Villa
on the banks of the Cúa River with over 5,500 inhabitants. The church of Santa Maria, next to the Camino, retains the Romanesque apse and was rebuilt in the XVI. In 1904, the tower, choir and atrium were built at the expense of Don José and Don Jorge Rodríguez. In the porch there is a 13th-century Romanesque Virgin. In the Shrine of the Fifth Anguish there is an image of the Child Jesus playing cards with San Antonio de Padua. It is from the 18th century, has seven altarpieces and houses the organ of the monastery of Carracedo. Surrounding the interior perimeter is the hostel, a design by the architect Don José María Aparicio that consists of two-seater cabins.

It is worth visiting the Archaeological Museum, located in the House of Culture, where there are plenty of samples of the rich Roman and Roman past of the region (2 kilometers away is the Castrum Bergidum, capital of the astures that I end up naming the region). The Cúa river has a length of 62 kilometers, born near the port of Cienfuegos and flows into the Sil. The stone bridge that crosses it is from the 16th and 18th centuries. In Cacabelos you can find all the services, including bike shops where you can go to buy parts or repair breakdowns.
PIEROS:The
Romanesque church of St. Martin, according to the inscription, was consecrated on 19 November 1086 by the Astorgan bishop Osmundo, the same who built in 1082 the church and the reinforced iron bridge (Pons Ferrata) in Ponferrada.
VILLAFRANCA DEL BIERZO:The
origin of Villafranca del Bierzo goes back to the communities of French, foreign merchants that were established with Alfonso VI and, above all, to the foundation of a community of Cluniacenses monks in the year 1070. In the 12th century, half of the population was foreign. As soon as you enter Villafranca you will find the church of Santiago, a Lombard Romanesque temple of a single nave and with the magnificent cover of Forgiveness. Spanish Pope Calixto III gave sick or disabled pilgrims passing through this door the same indulgences as if they had arrived in Santiago. The Calle del Agua crosses the city from one part to another and in it are located several palaces, of Italian style, and the convent of San Jose. XVI) is private and closely related to the history of the people. The 1606 Annunciate monastery was erected on the former San Roque Hospital and tradition says that San Francisco de Assisi stayed in it. Villafranca also has a nice Plaza Mayor, a French style Alameda and a river walk on the banks of the Burbia River, which receives the waters of the Valcarce. The historical capital of the Bierzo offers all services.