Ponferrada to Villa Franca

I woke up this morning and thought what an absolute luxury it would be to have a cup of tea in bed but no such luck. None of the hotels we stay in have tea making facilities in the rooms.
Anyway dusty shoes on and off we set. It is definitely colder in the mornings and Jane even had gloves on. We now have a new moon to look at and it doesn't get light until 8 am.
After a few km we stopped for breakfast to the usual croissants and today's were particularly nice and warm and fresh from the bakery.
It's always a bit of an ordeal getting out of the bigger places but Brian and Jane do an excellent job of navigating us out. Lee and I prefer to not interfere! Lee is our road marshall and reminds us to stay on left side of road. Sometimes Jane and I can be deep in conversation and forget!
Today's walk was really scenic and we walked through valleys of grapes , with trees turning gold and apples and pears lying on the ground. We walked through quaint villages with the stone and wood houses, some in need of great repair! Brian met a wood carver selling his wares so he was happy.
We stopped for a late morning tea and chatted with a young chap from Alberta and he has walked the entire Camino in crocs and sleeps out underneath the stars.
After 24 km we walked into Villa Franca which is like a sleepy Queenstown surrounded by hills and has beautiful old stone buildings and churches. Their main industry here apart from tourism is harvesting chestnuts and cattle.
Our hotel is great with a balcony overlooking the hills beyond.
Only 8 more days of walking and less then 200km to go.
The team of eight are holding up pretty well but a few sore muscles today after the long descent yesterday.
Up into the Galicia hills tomorrow.Read more