Cacabelos

So today after sleeping really well we left at 6.30. It was already warm but a good walking temperature and the first 6km to Villafranca was quiet and beautiful. The path wound through the vineyards of various bodegas of the Bierzo region until it reached Villafranca. Villafranca is a handsome town and I would love to explore it properly on my next Camino! There’s a castle, a working convent and some lovely churches as well as winding streets and a river in a deep gorge. We just stopped for coffee and for Caroline to charge her phone a bit.
It was then time to make a decision about our route to Trabadelo. The usual route follows the main road and stays fairly low in The Valley. There are two other routes. One, the Dragona is reputed to be tricky and badly signed and anyway rejoins the main route too late to allow a stay in Trabadelo. The other route is called the Pradela, and rises steeply up out of Villafranca to reach the small village of Pradela before dropping down into Trabadelo.
I was determined to take this route as I really didn’t want to walk along the road. We had been told that the road route was pretty unattractive as it also follows the A 6 motorway. However Caroline wasn’t sure about taking the steeper route in the heat (it is extremely hot today, even up high). So we had agreed to walk separately if necessary. In the end Caroline decided to walk the Pradela with me as it was still pretty early and relatively cool, and although steeper and a little longer, looked much more interesting.
It was extremely steep to start with but gradually levelled out and became more undulating than straight up.
The scenery was stunning and (I think) we were both really pleased that we’d made the choice. Much of the steeper part was in shade so only the last section was particularly hot, and even then we were winding through chestnut groves so in intermittent shade.
We finally arrived in Pradela around 11. We had been told about the Albergue there by Catherine, one of the hospitaleros at Guacelmo Alberge in Rabanal. She had tried their chestnut cake and said it was amazing. It really was - so we decided to stay for lunch, and that was great too. Chestnuts are the thing round here and the family who run the hostal also use produce from their own garden for the meals. We had goats cheese salad, roasted peppers, yoghurt with chestnuts, a glass of their own red wine and were then given a thimbleful of their home made chestnut liqueur.
As the Albergue is only 40 mins from Trabadelo (and downhill) we decided to stay rather than going to the municipal - which still means we haven’t been to a municipal yet. But this is so worth it. We are the only people here so have the dormitory to ourselves - as well as everything else. And there are kittens! I’m very happy! And a donkey!
So have frittered the afternoon away in a very enjoyable way - some sleep, some Duolingo, some chat. Another person has turned up - Matt from Galway in Ireland. He has walked over 40km today and that is his regular distance so it will be one night only as he’s aiming to be in Santiago by next Wednesday he arrived thinking he’s in Trabadelo and a bit gutted to have walked the extra 2 k and to have gone on the super hilly route - by mistake! I’m amazed he found it as no one else seems to have take this route today and we nearly missed it initially.
Anyway it’s nice to have some company, as long as he doesn’t snore, and it may help us to get moving early tomorrow as he leaves by 5.30am.
Am uploading a video of our neighbouring donkey who had a mad moment just after supper. Very funny - again sound is good!Read more