Villafranca

Instead of staying a second night in Ponferrada, we skipped our scheduled rest day and pushed onward, to Villafranca. As we were leaving, we ran into two other pilgrims who were a bit lost. It's somewhat confusing to leave a big city as the signs aren't always obvious. The four of us banded together and, with Tom in the lead, managed to find our way back onto the path. We walked with them, Michael, from France, and a young woman from Australia, for the first five miles. The trek lasted 17 miles and was mostly uphill, and often along a narrow edge of a regularly used road (a bit at odds with our guide book). Tom had great success with his new sandals and we believe his feet have made a turning point for the good!

We arrived into the city and headed for the cloister turned albergue, the Convento de Los Padres Paules, where we had booked a double room. We made a trip to the grocery store then sat in the courtyard to read and relax. I thought about how, prior to being on the camino, I had this naïve idea about how many miles I would want up walk each day and how many rest days we'd need. I had thought 12 miles a day (15 miles max) would be ideal but, in actuality, we are comfortable walking 16 - 18 miles each day and have taken less rest days than I expected. I chatted with Tom about it and we think the lesson in this is that it's hard to forecast what will make you happy.Read more