Day 10 - Zamora - Puebla de Sanabria

A fairly average sort of day, with around 80 km cycled and 800 metres of ascent. I took the main N631 for a few kms out of Tabara, then branched off into minor roads through Ferreras de Abajo, and Villardeciervos to eventually reach Peubla de Sanabria.

The minor roads here are very quiet, and make for pleasant cycling - when it is not raining. Around an hour into the day's ride, an Irish mist slowly and inexorably turned into a torrential downpour. The effect of this was to spur me on to complete the day's ride as quickly as possible. You really do not want to hang around in this sort of weather.

Villardeciervos (literally town of the deer) has plastered all the roads in and out with deer warning signs. Whilst I never actually saw one myself, I have to conclude that they do get a lot of them at times.

Only plus point of the rain is that one does not get dehydrated, so do not have to stop to take aboard water so often.

The walled town of Peubla de Sanabria was a plus at the end of a wet day. It stands on top of a hill (another steep hill at the end of a wet day is not good for the morale). The photos below give you the feel of Puebla de Santabria. The rush to finish the day's ride, resulted in arriving early enough for Sunday lunch (the Spanish eat meals late, and lunch at 4 pm raises not an eyebrow in a restaurant)

Peubla de Santabria	Peubla de Santabria
Peubla de Santabria castle	Peubla de Santabria restaurant
Hospederia la Carteria bedroom	Hospederia la Carteria bathroom

The hotel for the night Hospederia la Carteria was a little gem, a fantastic bedroom and bathroom in a house in the old town. The hotel had a red turret in Michelin, and was very reasonably priced. Dinner was taken in the underground dining room, which used the old wine cellars. The family owned another small B&B a few doors away and served breakfast there.

Camino de Santiago - Via de la Plata Map of my route

Day 11 Day 11 of my route