Rabanal del Camino › Ponferrada

🗺️ Stage Map

📖 Stage Description

From Rabanal, the path climbs still higher. Foncebadón — a half-abandoned village of stone lanes and a handful of albergues — gives way to open moorland. And then, suddenly: the Cruz de Hierro.

A simple wooden pole planted in an enormous cairn. Since the Middle Ages, every pilgrim has placed a stone here — a stone brought from home, a symbol of the burdens left behind. The spot is not spectacular. It is simply weighted with something that is hard to put into words. Take your time.

Beyond the pass, the descent begins. 1,500 metres of descent to the valley floor — down a path of loose stones and roots. Knees suffer. The chestnut forests of El Bierzo, magnificent in autumn, offer patches of shade.

Molinaseca is a welcome rest before Ponferrada. And Ponferrada's Templar castle — 12th century, imposing, remarkably well preserved — deserves that you don't fall asleep too early that evening.

🌄 Walking Conditions

Sun exposure and terrain over 32,4 km

☀ Sun Exposure

🥾 Terrain

⏱️ Estimated Time for You

Estimate your walking time based on your profile — calculation based on Naismith’s rule and the stage elevation.

📍 Villages and Waypoints

• 0km

  Rabanal del Camino · Start

  Altitude : 527 m · 🇪🇸 El Bierzo

• 5.3km

  Cruz de Hierro · 1504 m · Croix aux pierres des pilgrims

  Village or waypoint on stage 56.

• 8.4km

  Manjarín · Ermitage du 'templier' Tomás

  Village or waypoint on stage 56.

• 12.7km

  Acebo · 1170 m

  Village or waypoint on stage 56.

• 23.2km

  Molinaseca · 595 m

  Village or waypoint on stage 56.

• 34.2km

  Ponferrada · End

  Altitude : 527 m

⚠️ Practical Information

• ⚠️
  Difficulty / Alerts

  ⚠️ Key moment: Cruz de Hierro (1504 m) — leave the stone you carried from home, a millennium-old tradition.

  Descent to Molinaseca is very steep and rocky (–900 m over 8 km) — PROTECT YOUR KNEES.

  Ponferrada: Templar castle — one of the largest castles in Spain.
• 💧
  Water points

  Rabanal

  Cruz de Hierro (km 5)

  Acebo (km 12)

  Molinaseca (km 22)

  Ponferrada (km 32,4)
• 🛒
  Supplies

  Ponferrada km 32,4 · Supermercado · Panadería
• 🏕️
  AccommodationsPilgrim hostels (albergues, 5–15€), private rooms (30–60€).
• 🌿
  Monuments & Heritage

  Cruz de Hierro km 5 · Iron cross on a wooden pole (1504 m), surrounded by an enormous cairn of stones left by pilgrims from around the world since the Middle Ages

  Panorama over the Bierzo valleys km 6 · 360° views over the Cantabrian mountains, the Leonese plateau and the Bierzo valley

  Village of Acebo de la Montaña km 12 · Typical mountain village with timber-balconied houses, fountain and 16th-century chapel

  Templar Castle — Ponferrada km 32.4 · 12th-century castle of the Knights Templar, one of the largest in Spain, now a Templar museum
• 🚕
  Taxi / Retreat options

  Radio Taxi Ponferrada — 987 41 42 43

  Taxi Molinaseca — ask at the albergue

  Ponferrada train station