A12 Ponferrada - Portomarin

Twelfth leg from Oekene (Roeselare) to Santiago de Compostela: from Ponferrada to Portomarin, 121 kilometers and 2204 meters of elevation.

You drive out of Ponferrada towards Lugo. Along winding roads, we frequently ride to the left and right of the A6. At first, it's slightly uphill, but from La Herrerias it climbs increasingly to reach a plateau in O. Cebreiro (km 50) at about 1330 m. Pto El Poyo, 1337 m, is the highest point of the day. You are in the Cordillera Cantabrica and leave the region of Castilla y León and enter the region of Galicia, the region where Santiago de Compostela is also located. After 20 km on this plateau, a descent follows and then rolling roads. In Sarria, you cross the 'rio Sarria'. You then have 25 km left to Portomarin.

Portomarín is a municipality in the Spanish province Lugo in the region Galicia and has 1,690 inhabitants. The municipality arose and further developed alongside a Roman bridge over the 'rio Miño'. Portomarín is located on the pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela. In 1962, the 'rio Miño' was dammed to create the Belesar reservoir. As a result, the original municipality of Portomarín was submerged. Many valuable historical buildings were carefully dismantled and were reconstructed in the nearby Monte do Cristo, stone by stone.

The most famous example is the Romanesque church of San Nicolás, each stone of which was numbered. The number can still be read on many stones. When the water level of the reservoir is low, remains of old buildings can still be seen. The fortified church of San Nicolás looks like a castle. It was built on the orders of the Order of Malta between the end of the 12th century and the beginning of the 13th century. The church is one of the most important Romanesque buildings in Galicia.