Montefurado is a testament to glories long past. Twenty people live here now, but the monumental 18th-century Iglesia de San Miguel was built for hundreds. The village was once a crossroads for carters carrying ore, honey, wine, and vines throughout Spain.
Further along the river valley, you can see evidence of 2nd-century Roman ingenuity: the miners shifted the entire course of the Río Sil in their search for gold, blasting a hole through the riverside rock face. The village is built atop a maze of ancient tunnels, now used for storing wine and cheese.
There's a fountain next to the church and a Centro Social nearby where you may be able to get a drink. Montefurado has a train station with one morning train to A Rúa and one late-afternoon return.
A waymarked trail leads out of Montefurado along a green path upward. If bad weather makes the path difficult, there's a car access road from Montefurado to the LU-933 that also takes you uphill to Hermidón. A large portion of the walk to Bendilló has been taken off-road through forested areas.
The daily trains between A Rúa and Quiroga (stopping at Montefurado) can be useful for splitting stages — catching the 18:14 train back to A Rúa after walking to Montefurado, then taking the 10:03 train the next morning to continue.
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