Via de la Plata day 36: Requejo de Sanabria to  Lubian, 17.4 km

A beautiful, calm morning, although brisk. The locals advised that the official path would be unusable due to the rain so the first hour was a solid uphill climb to the Padornelo Pass at 1365m. It was a great day for cafe hopping, with the bar beside the albergue open for the breakfast coffee, and the village just past the top of the pass open for the mid-morning refreshment (and a chance to warm up, as it was only 3⁰ and wearing shorts and t-shirts was a tad optimistic!)

After breaching the summit, we left the road and followed a wonderful trail that linked the villages on the west side of the pass.

The towns are very old, with lintels engraved with dates as recent as the 1790s:

And the stonework is phenomenal:

Lubian has a historic wolf trap, thought to be medieval, high on the hill above the village. Like I needed a climb up another hill! Sheep would be left inside and the wolves would jump in and not be able to get out again. The trap is about 30m in diameter with walls about 2.5m tall, with an overhanging layer of stones on the top. Very impressive!