Camino de Santiago: September-October, 2012: 2012-09-30 Sunday

2012-09-30 Sunday

Cacabelos / Vega de Valcarce

Camino day 23. We left at 0700, without having breakfast first, and picked up Toni, he was waiting by the albergue. It was still dark but with a glorious full moon. We walked briskly to fight the cold to get warmer, climbing the long but low grade the hill just outside the town. Forty minutes later we stopped at a bar in the next little village for coffee.

We missed a left turn on the trail, we were walking along a paved road and missed faded yellow arrow painted on the pavement indicating that we need to go off on a dirt trail along the vineyard. We had passed it for almost a quarter of a mile when a driver, recognizing that we were pilgrims off the tray, stopped and told us to go back. We were walking and talking, completely oblivious, we probably would have walked a long way before realizing we were no longer in the Camino.

The morning light came in gradually over the hills revealing a glorious day, sunny and without a single cloud. The temperature gradually rose to low 50s, a great day for a brisk walk, I did not feel cold or hot, but I kept the windbreaker most of the day.

One hour after Cacabelos we entered the heart of the Mercia grape wine country, we walked on gravel roads on beautiful rolling hills with vineyards on either side of the road. After Villafranca del Bierzo, the Camino went back to paved tracks along highways, all the way to Vega de Valcarce.

Erico and the vineyards

More vineyards

Erico and a monument to pilgrims

When we stopped at Trabadelo for snack, about 9 Km before Vega, we met a group of 4 Spaniards from Saragossa (or Zaragoza inSpanish,) 1 men and 3 women, and we all walked together to Vega. Along the way, we discovered we are staying at the same place: Casa Rural El Recanto. The Spaniards are doing the Camino in yearly stages, this is their fourth and last year, they started at Villafranca today and will reach Santiago. Two of them are medical doctors, one a nurse and the other a high school teacher, and they area all close friends.

We checked in and decided to go to lunch together, the 9 of us. There are not many options to eat in Vega, and the food was nothing to brag about. The house we are staying has just 4 rooms, so we are the only guests with full use of the house. During lunch, we decided to take advantage of the house facilities and bought bred, cheese, ham, and wine for an evening snack at the house. The only problem with our plan was that the house had dishes and glassware, but they were in a locked cupboard! We had to improvise and bring the water glasses from our respective rooms to drink the wine. We improvised and enjoyed the good cheese, ham and bred, washed down with a good wine from the region. A good time was had by all.