The camping was on 1000 m height and it was rather cool in the morning. The village Santa Colomba de Somoza looked different as the other Spanish villages I came through: Perfectly built, houses have closed balconies that hang over the streets – possibly due to the cold climate.
On the way back to the Camino I expected the road would descend, but instead there was a moderate climb until the tracks joined at La Posada de Gaspar. The road continued to climb an I had splendid views. I made some pictures until the camera didn’t focus anymore. The lens did mot move in ad an error message was on the display. I reset the camera, replaced the battery, helped a little with my fingers, but no result. The further  pictures I took with the smart phone.
This happened on the highest pass on the way to Santiago de Compostela, 1490 m.
A Dutch couple from Zwolle was also on the pass and celebrated their efforts near the Cruz de Ferro at Te Puerto Foncebadon.
After the pass height a road normally goes downhill, but not here, after short descends the road was ascending again until nearly the pass height and this repeated multiple times. The first pilgrims village after the pass was El Acebo. And the Camino was full of albergues and cafés. After that the bad surfaced road was descending multiple kilometers until Molinaseca, where I had my lunch with a nice view on river an church.
In the rather big town Ponferrada I missed the most interesting parts, because I followed the sign to the historical center and did not have a deep look on my map. On my way through the newer parts of Ponferrada I was scanning the shops with my eyes, to find a camera shop and at the end I found one. There was not much choice and I bought a small Olympus. The senorita did not speak a word English and with my very  basic 10 words of Spanish, we agreed that I could have a camera with a charged battery. She also was so friendly to send my damaged camera to my home address.
Now I was equipped with a working camera and I continued the tour. Villafranca del Bierzo had a large castle and three interesting churches spread over the town. From the bridge over the Rio Burbia I could see them all. Because it was Saturday, I wanted to buy some food for the weekend, but the mini Leclerc was closed until 17:00 h. I did not want to wait an hour, so I continued the ride through the valley  of the Rio Valcarce with several small pilgrims villages. The road ascends with the river until the bicycle track and the pedestrians Camino split. Due to the split there weren’t pilgrims village on my part of the route. I speculated to find an albergue in Pedrafita, but the people on the street pointed to a next village. Because it was rather late, I choose for the option: Grass near the villages parking area. There are drinking water, toilets and even showers!
A Spanish guy also pitched his tent there.

130 km
Most of the bicycle track from Sahagún to León is over quiet roads. There were some small villages on this part. None of the churches was open to collect a stamp for the credential. Though I am not the fastest cyclist, due to the full equipment I have on the bike & trailer, some cyclist’s I had seen before, e.g. A young couple that I had seen on the pass road to Roncesvalles was in one of those villages.
Just before León the cycle track was on a busy road and I did not notice, that the last part of the pedestrian pilgrims track was meant as a bicycle route as well. Leon has a nice old city center and a lot of tourists an pilgrims were there. I asked in an open church for a stamp, but they sent me to the albergue around the corner. I had to queue, because many pilgrims already wanted to book a bed for  the night. Among them was one guy from Freiburg near Leipzig. He had to book for a second night, because after a walk of 52 km’s, his feet were wounded.
The cathedral of Leon was beautiful at least from the outside, because in the big towns I think it is risky to leave a packed bike outside for an hour.
In a small park I had my lunch, but later I saw, that there was a nicer place near the convento de San Marcos.
The way out of León started on the busy N120 again. I didn’t  want to take the risk of an unpaved footpath, so I used a quiet alternative route via Montejos del Camino via a high plateau to the west and then followed the river Órbigo until I joined the pilgrims track again at Hospital de Orbigo. In that town is an impressive historical bridge, the Puente de Orbigo. On a steep part to the N120 the bicycle chain jumped again from the blade and was squeezed again between suspension frame an blades. after I freed the chain it was possible to cycle, but the chain changed the blade unexpectedly.
I continued to  Astorga a real nice town with an huge cathedral. Near the Cathedral the is another church designed by Gaudi.
An English speaking cyclist asked me about my experiences with the extrawheel trailer and he knew the bike shop I town. After I collected my 2nd stamp in the museum of the cathedral I went to the bike shop. In my three words of Spanish I explained, I  would like to have the chain replaced. No problem an after 40 minutes I could leave the shop with a working chain.
My target camping for the night was some 30 km’s further – but uphill and against the night wind. This is a nice small camping,owned by a tall, hanseatic German.
Paul

112 km
The night in the multi bed room was not very quiet, because some pilgrims wanted to avoid the heat of the day.
I started some earlier, because I did not need to pack the tent. The track continued until Hontanas on the unpaved way, but there were no problems, just some descends I had to slow down, due to loose pebbles.
In the next village Castrojeriz I coul see the remains of a castle on an hill. I tried to look inside of one of the churches, but they were all closed. The roads I used were quiet and the height of the landscape varied between 750 m and 850 m. In the feat part of the day there was nearly no wind and none of the windmills generated electricity. That changed in de afternoon with a decent wind from the west.
In Boadillo del Camino a bus of Belgian tourists stopped. The reason as a beautiful pillar near the church, the Rollo Gótico.
The Santa Maria church was open and had a rich interior. And I collected my first stamp for today. some kilometers further was Fromista. At the the entrance was an old series of locks in the Canal de Castilla. It is not in use for nautical traffic anymore, but still nice to sea.
In an overfilled mini supermarket I bought some food for my lunch, that I enjoyed with a view to the Santa Maria del Castillo.
Short after Carrion de Los Condes I opted for the pedestrian’s Camino to avoid a larger street. After some kilometers it was unpaved and it used an old Roman road. Also the West wind started to blow now and the windmills at the horizon were rotating.
The pilgrims traffic on the Camino changed at noon. In the morning I saw high numbers of walking and cycling persons.  BTW pilgrims in history used to be male and female pilgrims were an exception. Today I guess, 30% is female.
I also had a chat with a cycling Belgian truck driver from Brugge. He started in his home town the first of July and wants to return via Italy, so he will make some 4000 km in 3 months.
This evening I am on a camping again, but I asked very critically if this camping was suitable for tents. And really this is the first one with green grass and I could pitch the tent without hammer or stones.
Though the sun was shining all day it is not too hot for cycling, but I had to consume liters of water.
Paul