Villafranca Del Bierzo

Molinaseca – Villafranca Del Bierzo 30km

Well I didn’t walk 30km today. In fact I barely walked at all. I woke up and got my gear all packed up and put my shoes on. Deep down I knew something wasn’t right. My legs were a bit jelly like and were not going to take me 5km never mind 30!! To add to that, despite putting on suncream about 5 times yesterday, I still got my face and neck sunburnt. The sweat of the mountain climb must have washed it off. Because of my kidney transplant medications I am more prone to skin diseases from the suns rays. I always wear good sun protecting clothes when out hiking, but the face is always gonna be exposed. Todays walk would have taken a minimum of 6 hours, so I called the walking off for that reason mainly.

I wanted to walk the entire camino on foot, but after cycling for two days, which I hated, I don’t mind taking this day off completely. I have to listen and protect my body.

So I got a taxi from Molinaseca to Ponferrada, mainly to see the Knights Templar Castle on the edge of town. What a site. It was not open to visitors at this time but I was still very impressed.

After this I went to a laundrette to dry the clothes I had washed last night, and who did I meet no other than the Italian dude who I shared a room with two nights ago. The fella can’t speak a word of English or Spanish so we communicate with hugs and high 5’s. We shared the dryer to save money and then set off on our own ways.

I made my way to the bus centre and was waiting in line for the ticket machine. Some assistant was helping everyone with their tickets but she was prolonging the situation. Having a conversation with everyone instead of just getting the damn tickets sorted. There were two machines and everyone just presumed that the second one was out of operation, until an older Spanish man jumped the queue to give it a go. Well he got on the machine and started pressing buttons and it looked like it was about to work for him, but then a warning came up on the screen and he couldn’t proceed any further. “Computer says Nooo!”. So he had to go to the back of our queue which had grew by a further four people. To say he was frustrated was an understatement. Yet ol blethermouth was still yapping on and holding the show up. She blethered on so much I missed the bus I wanted to get and had to wait another hour for the next one. 🙄

I eventually got my ticket and had a coke in the cafe. Then a team of Spanish ladies came in with a wee baby and the place became as noisy as a ladies night at a chippendale show! Bloody hell! Why do you have to shout so much! I drunk up my coke and got the hell outa there!

The bus came and took me to Villafranca Del Bierzo where I checked in at a Parador hotel for a day of relaxation. It wasn’t anywhere near the best hotel I’ve stayed in, even on this trip, but it was quiet and spacious with great food and wine.

I took a short walk up the town to get some essentials for the walk tomorrow and met my Swedish friend Bengt having a beer at the top of the town. I ordered a Piña Colada and joined him for a while. Turns out we are staying at the same albergue tomorrow again so we arranged to have a couple of pints there.

This town is nice but nothing spectacular. I only took a couple of photos of some of the highlights of the place.

Tomorrow I walk 26km with another steep hill climb towards O Cebreiro. I have no more aches or pains so shouldn’t take too long to get there. Good night!