Day 35 - Cacabelos to La Portela- 23km

I have stopped at a lovely albergue in La Portela de Valcarce. My plan was to do a 26km day but as I was walking by this albergue, I saw a couple ladies outside looking relaxed and drinking wine. I yelled across the street “is it good there?” but I couldn’t hear the reply. I crossed the highway and one of the ladies was the owner and said there was only one bed left. She talked about the meal being all together with salad, and I cut her off and said “I’m in”.

I started off around 7:30 this morning. I was ready by 7:15 but had to take some last pictures of the albergue and say goodbye to my special room. It was still dark but I had read last night that the walk was beside the highway, so I thought it was ok to walk a little in the dark. As usual, the sunrise was nice and the golden hour always brings out brilliant colours. It was such a beautiful walk to Villafranca through the rolling hills and vineyards. After that, it was mostly beside the highway so easy walking. In fact, it was a little cloudy so it was perfect for walking an extra long day.

It is 8:15pm now and I am writing this blog from bed. There are only 4 beds at this albergue, 2 bunk beds in a little room. It is all women tonight and we had a nice dinner with salad and pizza and ice cream. We stayed out talking quite a bit after dinner. I told my bunk mates I would only type for about 15 mins, so I better break now. I won’t start until 8am tomorrow as it is only a 14km hike, but it is all up hill, so should be interesting. I am very excited as I will be staying on top of the mountain tomorrow.

TTYL

Throwback to 2009 from Julie’s Journal

After dinner, Joerg and I talked more about writing the book. I said we need to do it soon after the camino so our memories are fresh. He said we needed a place by the ocean that is warm and with wind. I think he likes the idea of writing a book. At one point he said “It is also a love story”. Those words have been echoing in my head ever since.Read more