Time Departed: 8.00 am
Time Arrived: 3.45 pm
Distance: 31 kms
Cumulative Distance: 602 kms
Percentage Complete: 75%
Weather: Cool then sunny and hot
Accommodation: La Puerta del Perdon (Door of Forgiveness)
Feelings: Henk - Charge!, Neil - Just do it!, Di - Just do it!
We were very pleased with our day's effort of 31 kms and when we arrived at Villafranca del Bierzo we thought we were in pretty good shape. We gave each other a "High Five". Our walking strategy centred around the towns we would walk through and when we would have our breaks. The important thing was to get approximately two thirds completed before we had lunch at one of the villages and this was achieved. This gave us a good psychological boost to complete the last eight kilometres.
We can feel Autumn is here with very cool mornings and the trees are beginning to change colour. The temperatures are quite marked during the day.
When we arrived at Ponferrada at 9.30am the temperature was 13.5 degrees and at five o'clock at Villafranca del Bierzo the temperature was 30 degrees. Once the sun goes down the temperature drops dramatically.
It was mostly flat walking which meant we made a good walking pace of 5 kms per hour. Having a varied scenery of farmland and a number of towns and villages to walk through made the walk seem to go more quickly as there was much to see.
We skirted around the edge of the large town of Ponferrada alongside many vegetable garden plots.
We could see the city of Ponferrada in the distance when we were descending the mountains yesterday. The path took us into the old centre and straight past the imposing Castillo de los Templarios, the twelfth century Templar castle.
We continued on and kept to our strategy of having our first break at ten kilometres. However, the path was diverted due to construction and we walked a further two kilometres to Columbrianos for our first break of half an hour at ten thirty. This refreshed us and allowed me to cool my feet, put more vaseline on the toes and my change socks. My feet feel great after I frequently change socks.
When we reached Cacabelos we were ready for lunch and a break. It was now one thirty, it was hot and we needed some shade. We found a very cool spot in the main, narrow street.
Henk and I had rustic-looking chunks of pie which were very tasty and Neil had a very large bocadillo with cured meat and tomato.
We were very hungry and it hit the spot. We only stopped for twenty minutes as we were keen to keep going.
The last part of the walk was hot, there was very little shade and we had to do some climbing.
One kilometre from reaching Villafranca del Bierzo we still couldn't see the town and yet it has a population of five thousand. We finally discovered that it sits very deep in a valley.
We enjoyed a very pleasant evening in the main plaza, Plaza Mayor, along with another 150 - 200 peregrinos. They are easily identified by their walking clothes and casual sandals. We only saw a few locals.
Tomorrow is a shorter day but we do need to do some climbing.
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