Travesía Integral de los Montes Aquiianos

[Bierzo Baggie]

The calm follows the storm and normal running services are resumed. A flat, comfortable trail, uncluttered by rocks and stones takes me through vineyards and orchards of ripening cherries and fields stained red and purple with poppies and sweet smelling lavender. Monte Pajariel gets closer. Ponferrada’s ugly urban sprawl stretches out to my left. I’m very nearly in the home straight.

But there’s one last surprise in store. I should have known. A few weeks back I’d bumped into Aquilianos die-hard Domingo who told me that they’d left him in charge of a new section of the route. Previously we’d always followed the Monte Pajariel trail and it’s a familiar one for me because I run it most weeks. But Domingo with a sadistic grin said he was going to change it. And he’d got a chainsaw. Now leaving a fell running psychopath to redesign the final kilometres of the long and gruelling Aquilianos route is a bit like leaving a pyromaniac overnight in charge of a fireworks factory. And when I saw the blue and red arrow painted on a stone I feared the worst.

Fair play though to the wild eyed old mountain goat. Domingo has cleared an excellent new section of quiet, undulating pathway that twists and turns along the river bank and past the poplar tree plantations. The air is cooler and there’s plenty of shade but it does make the final part a little longer and after 60 odd kilometres this could leave a few weary participants violently cursing Domingo and his chainsaw.
Incidentally, Domingo has named this new path after his dog.

Crossed the River Sil via the usual ramshackle bridge in front of the abattoir and then tucked in to one last climb up alongside Ponferrada’s imposing Templar’s castle. Then headed into the old part of town, below the clock tower and out into the spacious square with its Baroque town hall bathing in the glorious sunshine.

Stage 8
Approx. distance; 8 kms (all runnable).
Time taken; 47 minutes.
Total ascent; approx. 100m
Total descent; approx. 200m

Journey’s end.
On Saturday I do it for real.
All at once.

And lunch is the impossible objective. It’s as good an objective as any.
“Hasta pronto!”