Day 32, Pieros to Pradela

We started at 6.30 this morning to try to minimise the time we were spending in the heat of the day. Forgetting my charger slowed us down a bit but we still made good progress across the lovely hilly paths to our first town, Villafranca del Bierzo. We arrived around 8 and were impressed by its castle and multiple churches.
Leaving Villafranca we had a choice - the normal route alongside a road and a river or the more arduous option of climbing into the hills and walking to our destination at a higher altitude. Obviously Fiona wanted to do the hill walk but I was in two minds about whether I should go with her or opt for the easier but more boring route.
In the event I did climb the vertiginous concrete path out of town and became committed to walking into the mountains. I didn’t regret it. Before long we were looking down on the town and across the countryside. We enjoyed one of the most beautiful walks of the whole Camino and, amazingly, we didn’t meet another soul. The route was steeply uphill for a while and then plateaued, affording wonderful views of Villafranca and the hills that surround it.
After a fairly arduous 10km we stopped at a tiny village, Pradela, where we had heard there was marvellous chestnut cake and coffee to be had. We liked it so much (it was only 11.30 am) we decided it was lunchtime. We ordered goats cheese salad and a plate of roasted peppers followed by yoghurt with chestnuts, all if it accompanied by the family’s own wine. We were enchanted.
Instead of doing the sensible thing and walking another 40 minutes downhill to the town we were aiming for, we decided to stay the night in this little bit of paradise.
After admiring the hostess’s cat family, having a snooze, a shower, some lovely phone calls and doing a bit of washing, we sat on the terrace with a beer waiting for dinner. We were surprised to be joined by another pilgrim, Matt from Galway, who had walked 45 kms today, had taken the harder route by mistake and thought he’d arrived in Trabadelo, the next town. Matt is an electrician at home and is walking to a strict deadline - hence the mad distances he’s covering each day. He told us his mother had been doing parts of the Camino for years and that was partly his inspiration.
We sat on the terrace and are ate our pilgrim meal together. Matt is planning to leave at 5am tomorrow and Fiona and I have agreed to aim for a 6am departure.Read more