Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo

I woke up again with a decision to bus it for the first 15 or so kms…I felt absolutely fine, but knew it was the longest day, and the very best part is the last 9 or so kms from Cacabelos. And being familiar with the bus station from 2 years ago, after breakfast I waved Cathy off on the Camino trail (she is a caminologist now and knows all the tricks of following the arrows), and then wandered down to the bus station, bought a ticket for the 10.30 bus for €1.60, and got there not very long before Cathy arrived, with 2 Canadians she had been walking with…we all sat down for a little lunch and a break for the walkers…it had been about 15 kms from Ponferrada. So we set off together for the last 8 or 9 kms and I have to say I was in heaven…this is the walk through and above the Bierzo valley, filled with vineyards, mountains in the distance - just beautiful…it is grape picking season, and we saw several trucks going by laden with containers of grapes, but didn’t see any picking - many of the vines looked already grape free…it was not a huge distance, but was quite demanding walking, uphill and down dale, and my back behaved and felt normal thank goodness. A very long day for Cathy…we are now having downtime in our very sweet hotel in the Plaza Mayor, and dinner is down the road at 8.30 so lots of time. Wifi is very weak here, being down in the valley, so am sending words alone first and pics later…Cathy will add her words, and choose pics…
I had a peaceful hour walking on my own and then met two lovely Canadians and we walked the next 2 hours to meet Mum, easy company. Mainly walking through towns and the last few kms via lovely vineyards before we met Mum. Post Mum’s other comments. We had a drink in the square and dinner close to the hotel. Mum ordered beef and got through as much as she could and still had room for rice pudding 🤣.Læs mere