Distance: 15.51mi/24.96km
Elevation Gain: 1022ft/312m
Time: 5h 45m
Just a day or two ago, I remember telling Leo that I hadn’t really seen very many vineyards so far and that it was unlikely I would. I didn’t know how wrong I would be until today.
The Camino from Ponferrada to Villafranca was much more forgiving today, yet the rolling hills still ached my feet, knees, and now calves.
Route variations happen often on the Camino, since several sections of what consisted of the main route have been turned to busy, unpleasant roadways. Today’s route variation added only 1km to our day, and according to Gronze, a popular Camino website resource, it was a deviation worth the 1km “cost”.
For the price of 1km, we walked among beautiful sprawling fields of vineyards (and more rolling hills).
We tried a few grapes from what looked like to be abandoned or old vines, and they tasted surprisingly sweet. We were even surprised with a field of olive trees too, something I had never seen before.
At some point a tall blue strange piece of farm machinery rolled past us. As my dad and I wondered aloud what that could be for, an older German peregrino caught up to us and explained that it was a grape/vine harvester. He said that he lives in west Germany, near the Rhine river, and he often sees those machines rolling around the vineyards.
We’ve also learned that this region is very proud of the wines that the El Bierzo vineyards produce, with bodegas (think wine tasting rooms) beginning to be aplenty on the route.
Finally, we have arrived to the small hilly Villafranca del Bierzo, where mine and my dad’s exhaustion (though he won’t admit it) has caught up to us. We ate “lunch” or “la comida”, which is the largest meal of the day, with a sweet Colombian couple who are walking the Camino to celebrate the wife’s 40th birthday and catch up on a dream they had hoped to fulfill when they were in their 20’s (but their kids delayed that for a bit).
We laid in bed and slept through the afternoon, woke up and ran to la iglesia de San Nicolás to see “la vuelta de las campanas”, which marks the beginning of the pueblo’s festivities. Townspeople hand turn the large church bells up top of the church, the endeavor lasting about 45 minutes (watch the video below to see what I mean).
We explored a little bit of the pueblo but eventually sat down for our nightcap.
Tomorrow we begin one of the hardest stages in the Camino, the climb to O Cebriero. If I don’t post tomorrow, just know that the pain in my legs is likely what stopped me.
Enjoy the photos and wish us luck!
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