2012-09-29 Saturday

2012-09-29 Saturday

Molinaseca / Cacabelos

Camino day 22. The Gang of Gour and Gunther met at 0700 for breakfast and then we hit the road at 0745, walking by the albergue where Toni joined us and we all walked together to Ponferrada, 7.5 Km away, arriving there at 0940. 

Nancy, Terry, Erico, Paulo, Toni and Gunther arrive in Ponferrada

We went to see the Knight's Templar Castle, but it opens only at 1100, although the guide indicates a 1000 opening time. We had coffee in a nearby bar and decided to keep walking instead of waiting for the castle to open. Gunther is staying in Ponferrada, a friend of his from Germany that is walking the Camino got sick, and he will stay with her today and tomorrow to provide moral support. He says that he will walk longer distances in the next few days to catch up with us before we get to Santiago de Compostela. We said our farewells and the Gang of Four, plus Toni, carried on.

Ponferrada: Knights Templar Castle

Ponferrada: Knights Templar Castle

Ponferrada: Knights Templar Castle in the distance

We stopped in Fuentes Nuevas for a quick lunch. Nancy was complaining of knee problems, and Terry complained about tight muscles. Soon after we resumed walking, Terry and Nancy fell behind, but the Camino was well marked and Paulo and I carried on. 

For most of the way, until about 5Km from Cacabelos, the trail was along paved country roads, and the sceenary was unapealing. Then we started walking among vineyards where people were collecting the Mencia grapes to make wine. 

Paulo, Toni and I arrived in Cacabelos at 1410, having walked 23 Km. Paulo and I checked in at the Hostal Santa Maria and Toni went to the Albergue. I went back to the first bar into the city to wait for Terry and Nancy, and sat at a sidewalk table having a beer while I waited for them, they arrived 20 minutes later. 

The GoF (Gang of Four) went out to have lunch before the restaurants close. First, we went to a crowded restaurant, full of locals, usually a sign of good food, but they had a 30 minutes wait; we ended up going to the Meson Apostol, recommended by our innkeeper, where we had an excellent lunch and a couple of bottles of a very good local wine. 

Local beef steak and fries

We had just finished lunch, when the restaurant owner came by to ask if everything was all right, chatting with him, we learned that he is also a wine producer. He ended up giving us a lecture on wine making, even bringing some grapes he picked from his vineyard this morning and his spectrograph to show us how to see the sugar content of the grape, one of the factors to determine when to collect grapes for winemaking. He said that his grapes  are going to be ready for harvesting on Monday. He gave us free tastings of his cognac and of his licquour. Paulo and I bought a bottle of his wine to drink later. 

When we returned to the hotel we met two Brazilian women, they are from Belem, walking the Camino together.

At 1900, Toni came by our hotel with Claire, a pilgrim from Ireland, he brought a fresh local cheese, I went to the nearby bakery to buy bread and I bumped into Jamil and invited him to join us.  The guy at the front desk allowed us to use the empty breakfast room for our wine, cheese, and bread "dinner." Jamil told us that he's wife decided to join him for the remainder of the Camino, and is arriving in Vega de Valcarce tomorrow, our next destination. Before we finished the bottle, Nancy joined us, Terry was too tired and stayed in their room resting.