Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierzo 32km

I slept well, after watching Lord Sir Alan choose the correct Apprentice, and after deciding to finish the Camino Francés. Two very good decisions in one evening. I went for breakfast, which was completely self service with a variety of machines that needed switching on or off, or checking. When the guy showed me in spanish yesterday, it was, Number One (coffee maker), bish bash bosh, Number Two (juicer), bish bash bosh, Number Three (toaster)… Well I’m sure you get the gist. He demonstrated everything very quickly. As such, a French family and I had to try to workout, which plug should be in, what should be unplugged and how to get more than dirty water out of the coffee maker. We succeeded. I needed a good breakfast as I had no travelling food, and was exceeding low on cash. Being a Sunday this was a concern.  A Japanese lady, who I’ve seen a few times, last time in the Hospital de Órbigo  albergue a few days back, had left her walking stick in the supermarket. The supermarket was part of the hotel, and I suspect she may have left it while checking in. It was Sunday and the supermarket was closed. I don’t know if it was special (I kind of think it was) but she didn’t have it when I saw her later in the day.

After a good massage of my left shin and calf, but not daring to do “upward facing dog” as even getting on the floor hurt, but its a guaranteed cure according to a YouTube guru. I set off. I was on the road by 8:30, with a 30 km target to a municipal albergue, that also could offer camping. So I felt super confident in not booking, and if my leg played up I could stop early.

It was a really nice walk into Ponferrada, through the agricultural outskirts and lots of small holdings. Being Sunday morning there was next to no traffic, just cyclist and “normal” walkers.

I got to the point where the Camino de Invierno turned off, it was hard to even find a sign at that point, and I have no doubt it would become harder. Instead I followed the path into the very impressive city of Ponferrada. It has a huge castle, and lots of small back streets and a replica Klansman!!! (Its not..).

I passed these by and headed towards the more modern centre, as I needed, water, cash, food and a toilet, in that order! The water fountain was first, it was a squirty one for drinking from, but using basic fluid dynamics to work out the curve of the squirt  I successfully filled my bottle. Cash was next, the ATM I had identified was in a closed building. The next one was a Santander one, that had run out of money. I remember in Peru trying to find ATMs with money at the weekend, I hope it’s not like that. Luckily the next one had cash, and let you choose smaller notes. Now food. On  a Sunday it’s only cafes that are open,so a egg and ham toasty, which was delicious, and a couple of cakes to takeaway. There was a toilet, so I was ready for the next 20km.

I’d have to say, after leaving Ponferrada the next 10km was the best. It was through the vineyards, in the sun with incredible bird and insect noise. It really was nice. The afternoons on the Camino are the best. It’s really quiet and just a few pelegrinos moving along. It’s nice.

I went through a few towns and grabbed a coke and a cake in a few places. It felt better to keep resting my leg frequently, even taking the boot off when I could. Generally it’s OK on the flat and climbing, but pretty uncomfortable on the downhill. But saying that, the pain moves around which isn’t very helpful.

The final leg into Villafranca del Bierzo was about 4km along a quiet road, followed by the last few kms up and down very steep tracks in the vineyards. It was a relief to see the municipal Albergue. Secretly I was hoping it was full so I could camp, but it wasn’t very busy and I’ve been allocated a lower bunk with a plug (with, currently, no-one upstairs).

Someone arrived, haha. It’s a basic albergue which doesn’t do food. Some do an evening meal and breakfast, but this just has a kitchen. I knew I should have thrown my porridge away! The clothes washing facility has the roughest scrubbing surface I’ve ever seen. I’m pretty sure it could wreck my clothes!

I went into town for food and found a nice restaurant with a €15 menu of the day. Luckily the service was so slow I managed to write most of this blog while waiting. Its also lucky there is no curfew at the albergue.