Camino Day 25, June 29: Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierzo

Camino Day 25, June 29: Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierzo

Numbers: 19.65 miles per Garmin GPS; per Fitbit: 50,081 steps, 132 floors, and 392 active minutes. I haven't posted the links to Garmin data (maps, paces, elevation changes, etc.) in a few days but for those interested, here are the last few days excluding today which hasn't been uploaded yet: June 25 (20+ miles..detail here shows all but the last .6), June 26, June 27, and June 28

Dave's voice

Another "pack-free" day in high heat (90ish at the end) over long miles. What to say? Molinaseca was a town that seemed like it might be fun to live in on a Saturday (or Sunday) night, although, as the crowd noise continued til midnight, we had our doubts.

Our roomy, but air conditioning-free room on the top floor went from being hot to hellish as the lengthy Spanish evening wore on. We had a double window facing north and window/sky lights facing east and west. Our hotelier, a nice, friendly young man, assured us that opening all of the windows would "refresca" I.e., cool, the room. It did…at about three AM. Which was when the street chatter died away. Hint: never get a room across from a bar in Spain. Or, if you do, get a good supply of water balloons to quell unnecessary conversations. We also had this on a hot Saturday night in another nameless (who remembers?) town. Perhaps it’s small town life where any diversion is enough reason to stay out late, even if it means recycling the same talk with the same people. Okay, alcohol helps.

Up early and on the road, sans flies, to Villafranca in the famous Bierzo wine growing region. Never heard of it? Us neither, but the young vines look good until about noon when the heat doubles down and our path takes us uphill and –finally! – into Villafranca del Bierzo, a happening town of about 3,500. Like Molinaseca, Najera and others before it, one could imagine a slow, unhurried life here with plenty of good local wine (and cheap beer: a bottle at a restaurant cost 1.80€), good food once one found the "hole in the wall" restaurants where the good usually stuff is, and the bells In the local, ancient cathedral. Life as it was a hundred or five hundred years ago. Of course, none of those pesky modern innovations like medicine or public sanitation.

We’ve met several young women on the road. All of us, young and old, have a biographical sketch to tell: I’m from Germany, but I’ve lived in Atlanta for the last 11 years. My children visit Germany, but they’re totally American. I’m from South Central LA. I’ve been teaching in Spain and I’m doing this before I go home. I’m from Norway and…(we saw her three days in a row, then never again. She seemed strong, but her knee went bad.) I’m from Holland, but I lived in Vancouver, Canada for 11 years. My boyfriend of 8 years just left me so I’m taking a year off as "me" time. I’m from Boulder, Colorado and I skipped the Meseta (a lengthy, less than interesting stretch of farm land), and I may take a cab for the first five miles tomorrow. Who knows? I’m a young woman living in Salt Lake City. I came with a friend who tore a meniscus ligament after four days and had to drop out. Now I’m walking with a young woman I met who has developed a bad ankle. I have a bad foot and roll a ball under it at every stop I take.

We chat with these women – and even a few men! – and move on. Steve from Cupertino is one town behind us. The French guy who’s pulling a kind of reverse wheelbarrow contraption he made and travels with three women – two with back-packs; one, the younger, prettier one, without – has probably dragged himself into Villafranca. Natalie, who has too big of a pack and wears black tights despite the heat, is probably here, too. The slow ones always seem to will themselves forward.

We hit Villafranca just before two PM and make the intelligent choice to get directions from a waitress after she’s sold us a beer. This is at a restaurant where the asking of directions is so common that the menu has a city map on the reverse. Bueno. Our hotel is duly found and had bar soap, a double bed and…air conditioning. Who says pagans don’t get Divine aid?

Back to the place where we got directions for our meal, another beer and a bottle of red. Sorry, white isn’t on the menu. Strange, this is an area where we do not see anything but "blanco" and "tinto" (red) on wine labels. For a wine growing region, Bierzo (like Rioja before it) seems not to grasp how wine can be leveraged into snobbery. Another good meal and we’re back to our room – stopping to chat with Salt Lake City and Boulder – for laundry, blog and the other thing.

Uh, saw more storks today. Scout has photos of nests atop poles which seem to have been placed there just so storks would nest on them. The story I remember was that, in Germany, Austria and the like, it was considered good luck to have a stork nest on your chimney. Maybe so, but forget using your fireplace until the chick was ready to take wing.

.Deb

Heat wave: well, we aren't in Madrid or Barcelona, but that doesn't mean the heat wave isn't affecting us in Castille-Leon and Galicia (where we will be tomorrow). Today it is 95 as I type this at 5:30 pm. Here in Spain, highs are reached between 5 and 7. Last night, we were without air conditioning again and on the third floor. Yes, heat rises! While the hotel owner was a nice guy, it didn't become "refresca" later in the evening as he said it would when we asked for a fan (which he didn't have). Good news: we have working a/c here in a boutique hotel in Villafranca. Yay!

We walked our 20 miles today without our back packs (just wearing day packs). It was a good choice. For the most part, footing was good, and our minor injuries were nowhere to be found. But, with the heat, it was nice not to have the burden of the packs. We will send them on again tomorrow. It's our last long day or day with large amounts of uphills or downhills.

We again saw nests and storks on high. This has to be one of the highlights of our walk. I had seen pictures and heard about this in Germany but to have now seen them four times (two today) is mind-boggling.

How about some photos?

Camino signs

More signs. We think the one on the left has Hawaiian influence. What do you think?

French guy dragging stuff in reverse wheelbarrow

Our stork friends

Churches and castles today

Spain: signs showing when you enter and leave a town

A bit of today's countryside

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