DAY FOUR…Ponferrada to Publea de Sanabria 14 May 2016 SATURDAY

Travel day this Saturday, partly cloudy in Ponferrada and a balmy 7C but dry. We had the buffet and coffee to get our motors running before the short drive. We had evaluated the maps up in the room last night.

Stopped to stretch and found this old wall.

No easy way between these two cities. The Michelin route planner took small white and yellow colored map roads with numbers like C-139, LE-172 etc and not a major roadway shown in red. With the constant rains there are likely to be minor rock slides and potentially blockages. And so we opted to backtrack to Astorga and then take the main roads into Sanabria. We missed the turnoff for LE 133 and pressed on to La Baneza to try and catch LE 125. Now I have a theory about small Spanish towns, they lure you in and then, only with great cunning can you escape! They want you to stop and spend money! There are few signpost or directions and it is more by luck than anything else that you can shake off the bonds of these towns and make your escape! We prevailed after a couple of loops around the center and using cunning with Carmen Garmin. She wanted to direct us back to the big main highway, which we like to avoid. It is always an adventure and we see some interesting places and others that are a bit sad and down on their luck but it is life that you do not see when you only travel the highways.

 We arrived at 1330 and it was sunny at 15C -- finally a little warmth!! We checked in to the Parador, got a local map instructions from the gal where to have the best tapas or best meal in the town and how to find the few Parking areas allowed on the weekends. The Parador is not one of the old historic buildings but has been upgraded fairly recently and is lovely. Clean and bright with comfortable rooms. Puebla de Sanabria is located smack on the border with Portugal and as such has a flood of tourists on the weekends. We ate lunch at the Peamar Bar as recommended and the food was outstanding. Jane had an omlette with mushrooms and pate fois along with a Normal salad lettuce, toms, onion.

Paul had the local Habones (Beans) with Chorizo, Ternera de Chuleta. So much to each and finished by 1500 and so we wandered slowly to the castle located at the top of the village. The view from the top was spectacular up and down the river valley below. The town is ancient, it was founded in 509.

The castle was built by Los Condes de Benavente in the15^th century. It has also been a stopping place for peregrinos on the Via de Plata. That is, the pilgrims who came from the south on the Roman road.

Instead going directly back to the Parador for siesta we drove to the Lago (lake) de Sanabria. Folklore says that there is a complete ancient city intact but sunken at the lake bottom. Who caused the sinking and why is obscured. Lots of trout and eels for the catching!

I think we are beginning to slow down and enjoy just being, being lost, being calm, being rested, being in the moment and realizing there is no rush, no appointments and we can do and go where we please. It is very freeing. We are writing this but emails and WiFi are patchy. I had a freakout moment when I could not get any emails out. Expect a bunch when we get back and reconnected to the web!