PONFERRADA – VILLAFRANCA DEL BEIRZO

Our accomodation in Ponferrada was ok but it wasn’t one of the better ones of the Camino. After my feet dried out I applied the compeed dressings to the blisters and then went out to look for the guys. The little bit of rest and the massaging with the massage ball helped my leg to feel a lot better and with the dressings on the blisters I was almost able to walk normally. I made my way up into the town found the lads at the bar having a drink. I sat and down and joined them for a while and we unpacked the day which had been quite a tough one. I then headed off to the supermarket to find some food for the morning. I also needed some more soap I found the best supermarket that I have been in yet in Spain there was a lot to choose from and it was all pretty cheap as well. I purchased a large bag of small croissants for 1 euro.

Next we tried to decide what we were going to do for dinner. The boys reckon they had found the ideal venue and menu for dinner and it was pretty close to our accomodation as well. We decided that we would go and have dinner at 7:00pm. The Spanish eat late, Ray was about to naw his arm off as it was getting close to 7:00pm so we headed to the the restaurant and found that it was closed and didn’t open till 8:00pm but we were dubious of it opening at all. All the other restaurants around the Plaza were all 8:00pm as well but there was really no one around. So we headed back to the bar we had been at and asked the guy if there was something open we could get dinner now. He pointed us to a Rock and Roll cafe that was just down the street, it looked ok and the guy spoke really good English. They had hamburgers on the menu and we all decided to go with that Bryce got a Cheese Burger and the rest of us got a hamburger with salad and chips. When Bryces turned up his was a regular Hamburger with buns. When ours turned up it was a hamburger patty and then salad and chips that were more like what the English call Crisps. But they were hot kind of. Anyway it tasted good and we were all hungry so it was gone pretty quickly. Then we headed back to Albergue to turn in for the night. As we were all fairly tired after our 28km day.

I was still a bit nervous about the walk tomorrow as I prepared to go to bed. But my legs were feeling better. The bed was comfortable but the bed was noisy anytime either one of us moved it creaked terribly. We decided that we would have a 30min sleep in wake at 6:30 and get on the road by 7:00am this was a good plan but our roommates had other ideas. People started going out from the room at about 5:00am and the turned on the lights in the hall way then left the door to the room wide open. The light came in right on where Bryce and I were sleeping. So at about 5:50am we decided that we might as well get up and get going. By the time all of us were ready it was about 6:30m and we were ready to hit the road. I said our prayer for the day and we headed off through the city.

Now I have to admit that I didn’t really take much notice of Ponferrada as walked in yesterday because I was in so much pain from my leg. But my leg was feeling so much better this morning and i was able to take some more notice of my surroundings. We walked out along next to the river with lovely trees and through some sort of energy plant up a hill and then into what I would class the Beverly Hills of Ponferrada as the houses were huge and lots of big leafy trees. We continued walking through and soon were on a road walking along with lots of other pilgrims. It seems as though there are a larger number of Pilgrims on the way in the last day or so I guess we are getting closer to Santiago. The road that we were walking on was an obviously a recognised short cut for commuter traffic and we ad cars racing by us which was a bit off putting. Ray had a sore shin with shin splints and that was really slowing him down. We stopped and waited for him while we had a coffee and pretty soon he turned up and we all headed off together. Another couple of kms down the road we stopped for some breakfast and all ordered sandwich’s which were great and of course another coffee. We weaved our way through the town and then headed up a hill and out into wine country which is where we spent the rest of the day.

Today we walked 24.2kms and my leg was totally fine thank you for all of your prayers. My left foot was also really good, but I had a few niggles with my right where there might be a new blister developing on the edge of the compeed. But we made it here it is a great Albergue called Leo and it is very comfortable and we ave our own room with bunks but it was only 15 euros for the night.

We walked through quite a few hills on tracks through vineyards this afternoon and it was only about 20 degrees. But in comparison to the 5 degrees that we have been starting on it felt very warm. i hate to think what it would be like in summer. Anyway tomorrow is a massive day we have to climb our last big hill and we stay somewhere at the top and then take a day to descend. I couldn’t say that I am really excited by the prospect. But hey it is only 180km to go to Santiago now. I never thought iI would be using a sentence where I said only 180km. That is approximately New Plymouth to Bulls to go. I looked at a map before i came away and the Camino is kind of like walking from Wellington to Whangārei. That scared me, but now we are in the lasts third so that is something. There was a guy selling wax stamps for your pilgrim passport today I decided to get one as it makes it look more official. Anyway that is it from me for today.