Day 24: Dont tell jess

Renay Weir
Sep 27, 2017
4 min read

Day 24: Molineseca to Villafranca via yet an unnecessary route through Compostilla. 32kms. 8 hours. Well we did it. Another 32km day. Unintentionally of course. Because sometimes the silly yellow arrows on the ground lie and you get sent off through a town that probably hasnt seen a tourist in 50 odd years. Add on 4kms and another hour. All after Anna assuredly said earlier ‘ill follow you guys anywhere’.

Our alarm went off at 635am and all 3 of us woke and were feeling pretty low. ‘Whhhhyyyy???’ ‘Not this again’. ‘This is not sunday funday’. But we get up, pack our bags and head off in the dark just after 7am. We walked 7kms to Ponferada where we got to see the Castille de Ponferada (Ponferada Castle if that wasnt obvious) just as the sun rose. We wandered around the outside of the castle before finding a seriously good cafe.

And for once i didnt have a pan au chocolate. (I really was in some mood this morning). Went for a carne and patata empenada. Delicious! Got going again and heres where we got a ‘little’ off track. My app map was showing one way, but there was a yellow arrow pointing the other. Next minute we are walking through the most dero part of town. Graffiti everywhere, rough looking alleys. Little sketchy but we got through unscaved. It wasnt for another 1/2hr that i re looked at my phone and showed anna. We were so far off track. Jess’s blisters have been pretty painful and she was just near the top of this steep hill so anna and i looked at each other ‘dont tell jess’! Anyways an hour and a few additional kms later we make it back to the main trail. Just wandering through semi-rural area, with private crops and gardens and then we hit the wine country again. At about 11am it got hot. Boiling hot. And we had a good 14km to go. We got to some town and stopped for a quick drink, then we all downloaded the Dixie Chicks and set off all listing and singing out loud to different songs through town. There were a lot of long hills to climb today! Thank goodness for water fountains in every town! I get far too excited when i see them! We stopped at cacastora for lunch and caught up with all our friends. Walk into the cafe and see Pasquale! You can never not say ‘Pasquale!’ Without an italian accent and shouting. I just go straight up and have a mouthful of his tortilla. ‘I dont like it, sit is not nice, you try, you have if you like’. Thank you Pasquale!

I found a bit of grass to lie on which was so good until some old lady came over and let her dog off the lead. Looks like i was laying in the towns dog wee/poo spot. (Gotta stop lying on the good grass) The final ‘5.9km’ was long! Im still quite doubtful of the accuracy of these distances. It was soooo hot, and we walked along a red dirt stone road for an eternity. If the view wasnt so picturesque it would have been much worse! Theres just vineyards as far as the eye can see and most are starting to get their autumn colours. We’re in more of a mountainous area now so quite different scenery from previous weeks! Annas friend had recommended an albergue in Villafranca (of course its on the otherside of town) so we stomp, but in a way where your feet arent even off the ground all the way across villafranca. We get there and theres only 2 beds left. We all let out a wimper then eye off which one of us is the unlucky one who misses out. Nah the lady was good and called another albergue and got us beds. (Back across town of course). Come to think of it that probably added 2kms to our day. But here we are, in the most beautiful albergue. Back home it would be a boutique hotel and certainly not 10 euros. It is amazing and it even has sheets for the bed! Heaven. Except im sure in heaven your feet wouldnt be burning and throbbing, you wouldnt be hobbling around and you wouldnt feel absolutely exhausted. We headed up to the towns plaza for dinner and ran into Tiago. He has a pretty bad name for himself on the camino. Everyone knows of him. He is Portuguese and has some form of mental disability but im not sure people realise that and can be quite mean. But jess, anna and i sit down and have dinner with him. It was lovely, he really came out of him self. Side note – i ordered a salad for dinner as i do not know the last time i saw a green vegetable on my plate! I was craving broccoli the other day and i hate it, thats how desperate ive become for greens.

I also ran into Helmut, Amanda, Raph and Nils so caught up with them. All feeling pretty tired. Theyre doing 35km days now to make it to santiago by the end of the month, so i said goodbye to them as i certainly wont be walking those distances and once youre ahead now, its pretty hard to catch up. But thats ok. Theres still so many other people around!

R x