Área de Turismo - Ayuntamiento de Ponferrada

High resolution image. This link will open using lightbox, there may be a context switchCueva de Peñalba
In this peaceful backwater there are plenty of chestnuts, oaks, walnuts and alders that feed and protect the elusive roe deer, the golden eagle nests, wolves, foxes and wild boars.

This is the ideal place to run away from troubles and where the monks arrived over a thousand years ago to build their monasteries giving birth to la Tebaida Berciana.

It is worth mentioning the Mozarabic church in Santiago de Peñalba, built in the 10th century, and Saint Genadio's cave, a place where this hermit stayed long periods, and which is located in the Silence Valley.

This is a circular route and it is well signposted, so it's impossible to get lost and you can start in any of the towns that go by the route.

High resolution image. This link will open using lightbox, there may be a context switchInterior de la cueva You can even join this route if you start in Path of the Monks route.

If you decide to start in Peñalba de Santiago, you have to start from the basin and go down the path that leads to Friguera Valley on the way to Montes.

If you start in Montes de Valdueza, you have to start at the door of the Monastery of San Pedro de Montes and go down to cross the stream from Montes to Peñalba.

Either of these two options is good to contemplate the beautiful landscape modelled by water and ice and perhaps pause for a moment and understand why some monks became saints, Saint Valerio, Saint Genadio, and Saint Fructuoso.