We are moving out towards the Galaician border. We are not going to tarry in Murias de Rechivaldo - despite its many facilities. No, we have Castrillo de los Polvazares and the centre of the Maragatos.








Academics disagree but then, you would expect nothing else. It is generally thought that the Magatos are descended from the Berbers who trotted over to generally modernise Spain in the 8th century. They seemed to have kept themselves to themselves but blended enough with the Reconquest Christians to mean they weren’t kicked out in 1492. It appears they ran the fish trains from Galcia to Madrid.




The village has kept much of its 16th century style, partly a product of having been rebuilt there after a flood. Apparently battles were fought between loyal Spaniards and dastardly French troops in 1810. http://www.castrillodelospolvazares.com/



The important reason to come here is to recreate a rare thing - a meal that almost defeated us. The cocido Maragoto basically involves slaughtering the livestock of a village, Cooking it, Serving it up. Then serving chickpeas Then a soup with noddles out of the liquor. You may get custard afterwards. Ensure supplies of pink stomach medicine, retire to a darkened room and sleep it off.

There are many restaurants in Castrillo and I can not remember the one we went to, it was a long time ago, so I have picked Entrpiedras as the one to go to http://www.entrepiedras.com/ It gets 4.5 stars on average over hundreds of reviews. A month a go Juan Carlos wrote ‘A meal of 10 in one of the most charming towns in all of Spain’

Time for a little nap before carrying on.

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