POSTED A DAY LATE
After filling our water bottles from the local fountain we set off at 0650 hrs towards Puebla de Sanabria via the villages of Entrepenas, Asturianos, Palacios de Sanabria, Remesal, Otero de Sanabria and Triufe.
The first few kilometres were very pleasant and we had our first sighting of pine woods. It was a cold morning and we regretted not having our fleeces at hand (we have been packing them at the bottom of our rucksacks together with all our rain gear!). When we arrived in the small village of Entrepenas we had a chat with a charming village elder who told us a tale of woe. He was one of only four people left from the original villagers the others having left to find work elsewhere.
The construction of a major dam nearby had changed the local weather. Since the dam was constructed they had been suffering a lot of frosts, which had devastated the local fruit industry. The introduction of wild boars and wolves to the area had also destroyed what crops they had and eventually the whole area deteriorated so badly that most people left. Others have moved in, buying land cheaply and building weekend or summer retreats. The price of progress! Needless to say there was nowhere to have coffee!
The village of Asturianos boasts two bars but they too were closed so on we pressed towards Palacios de Sanabria. We followed the camino where it turned away from the main road but after a mile or so we had to backtrack as we found the path impassable.
The tracks were incredibly muddy and although we tried to find alternative routes all our efforts proved unsuccessful. We had to walk another mile back to the main highway and follow that until Palacios, where we enjoyed breakfast, at long last!
After Palacios it was a nice walk through woods with plenty of shade up to Remesal. After that things deteriorated badly. The path had been changed to take us through the village of Oteros rather than through its outskirts and we found the path almost
impossible to navigate due to the amount of mud! We did however find alternative routes going cross country and I must say that the scenery was very beautiful.
From Otero (no bars or shops) the path became a tarmac road which rose steeply to the village of Triufe. It is a medieval village with old houses with balconies, mostly in a bad state of repair but interesting nevertheless.
From Triufe we carried on via an old tarmac road, totally devoid of traffic, crossing over both the A52 motorway and the National road N525, before arriving in Puebla de Sanabria.
The entrance to the town is stunning. We were hoping to reach the local post office before it closed so we rushed up its steep hill to the historic centre of the town, arriving breathless just a few minutes before the post office closed.
The bad news that awaited us was that our parcel had not arrived. To make matters worse a national strike had been called for the following day and they could not guarantee that the parcel would arrive then.
In any event my feet were in such a bad state that we had already decided that we had to rest up for a day and Puebla seemed a nice play to stay. We decided to forego the pleasures of the local Albergue and booked ourselves into a local hostal in the old town just opposite the post office.
Sightseeing of this town which boasts a very fine castle was postponed until tomorrow.
The village of Asturianos boasts two bars but they too were closed so on we pressed towards Palacios de Sanabria. We followed the camino where it turned away from the main road but after a mile or so we had to backtrack as we found the path impassable. 
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