Episode 3 – Ponferrada to Villafranca de Bierzo

First heartiest congrats to Hannah for demolishing the personal best one day distance walking record that she set just yesterday with a new record 17 plus miles today! She really has a lot of stamina for a young person.

We slept in, had a light breakfast and didn’t start out til about 10:00 after bidding farewell to our silent friend in the main square in Ponferrada. It was a cool comfortable June day about 70 degrees Fahrenheit with nice occasional clouds about 15 degrees cooler than the terribly hot humid uncomfortable 90 something degrees that I encountered when I was here in October. (2017 blog Episode 12). Of course we were happy to have such a nice day but shouldn’t June be warmer than October?

I learned something about Hannah which I suspect may be universally true of young people today, they go for the low hanging fruit. Which I’m actually fine with especially in this case cause the cherries were delicious.

Due to our late start there was no way we were going to get to Villafranca de Bierzo by 2:30 so we stopped for lunch at a small cafe in Cacabelos about 22 kilometers (13 or so miles) along. Hannah wimped out and ordered a single small dish of paella but I went all in with the Menu de Peregrino. My starter was a plate of grilled shellfish including a few razor clams, couple of large shrimp, a beautiful scallop and a few extra regular clams thrown in for good measure. Unfortunately, though I made the effort, I was unable to nurse my glass of wine through my appetizer and had to order another glass to get me through my main course which consisted of a few grilled rib chops, a couple of different sausages and some potatoes. We both got a nice dessert but my Fantasia del Chef bested Hannah’s chocolate profiteroles by a country mile! At that point it occurred to me that we still had more than 4 miles to go so I ordered a double espresso. What a meal! Total bill less than 30 euros.

Honestly I was privately questioning my judgement ordering such a huge meal but how was I to know they would serve me enough for a family of four? So I denied any discomfort when questioned by my Camino companion and bolstered by the strong double dose of coffee we set off through the magnificent vineyards of the Bierzo DO for the last 4 plus miles to our destination. We saw a lot of beautiful things along the way. And I made the firm decision that when I plant my vineyard Im gonna place a rose bush at the end of each row of grapes. I just think it’s a real nice touch. Oh and storks from Africa summer here in Spain and there are stork nests everywhere. And a stork nest can weigh up to 400 kilos but I was anguished to learn that if a mama stork ends up with more than two baby storks in her nest she tosses the weakest ones out! There’s a lesson here somewhere.

We didn’t arrive at the Parador til almost 6:00 but still had time to shower change into nice clothes tour the town and enjoy a couple of light snacks before bedtime.

Next stage takes us into Galicia and includes the steepest ascent and some of the most spectacular views of the entire Camino Frances. And as foretold by Tomas another “bright day ahead” for Hannah which I will enjoy as well.

Gracias Tomas!

Buen Camino