Villafranca del Bierzo/Vega de Valcarce

October 2-3

I am in our room in Vega de Valcarce with the balcony door open listening to the sound of the rio Valcarce babbling just below us. The sound of the river is absolute HEAVEN, and the terrain we have now entered is soothing - hills, trees and the sound of water. We are almost to Galicia.

Yesterday, we survived some early morning road walking while dodging a few cars. Then, we walked through some beautiful vineyards! My favorite part was a gorgeous white house on a hill flanked by big trees and surrounded by the vineyard.

It was hot yesterday afternoon and Alan wilted big time. First thing we did when we arrived in Villafranca del Bierzo was sit down and order a couple of beers and pizza. Alan perked up immediately! 😂 While hanging in the plaza we had a chance to visit with Camino friends Stefan, Kim, Don and Maryann. We also saw Karen, Pam and Hanz who we hadn’t seen since Hontanas.

This afternoon we had our best meal of the Camino at Restaurante Espinol. The couple who own the restaurant (Julio and Maty) were so kind and the food was spectacular! I was able to satisfy my steak craving and Alan loved his grilled sea bass.

We finished off the afternoon with a trip to the supermercado for a couple of snacks and then the pharmacy for some more electrolytes for our water - Alan hopefully won’t lose all of his energy again on this trip. 👍🏻

Best Parts of the Past Two Days:

1. Laundry Service in Villafranca del Bierzo - Our clothes needed it!
2. Comfy bed two nights in a row!!!
3. Seeing Katrina (New Zealand) again after thinking she was way ahead of us
4. Visiting with Judy (Dublin)
5. Trying some Galician liquors
6. Meeting quick witted Trudy (Australia) Trudy’s quote on how far she’s walking each day - “I’m on an Ibuprofen timeframe” 😂

Tomorrow, we have a big 2300 foot climb up to O’Cebreiro and then to Linares, where we will be staying for the night.Read more