Just too much!

Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierzo – day 26 – 30.63 kms

If you had asked me before I started this trek if I can walk over 30 kilometres in one day? The answer would have been NO! However not reading my itinerary until I arrived….i realised I Have four of these days in a row! Yesterday was one!!! The last 10 Kms being up and down hills through vineyards….i didn’t get to write my story last night…so here is yesterdays adventure…

The bridge into Molinaseca – the evening before, where the locals were sunbathing and swimming in the little bit of water trickling through!

Yesterday morning, I left Molinaseca at 6am…as twilight was breaking…

Kind of deserted on the trail…from here to the larger town of Ponferrada…where most pilgrims were staying for the next days walk…

After the first 7kms I entered this town…

Over a bridge of course…followed the yellow arrows, knowing these would lead me to the Town centre and then out the other side! Ponferrada is quite a large town…I was gasping for my first coffee of the day and thankfully at 7.30am the cafes by this castle were opening!

The Camino signs were popping up again, but the lady in the cafe also gave me a map showing the trail out of the city which was really helpful..

However, as I snapped (photos) away, I did get a little off trail…this is a really pretty city, with lots to look at…but I needed to get on as, really my day was just beginning!

Street art under the motorway bridges…

And on the tunnel walls…there weren’t a lot of backpacks to follow as they had probably already left town!

Finally around 8.30…I came to the edge and out into the countryside…mainly regional road walking, which is kind of hard in my trail shoes…

Street art on the back wall of a church!

And those Storks….this one making its home on a lamppost…all the church spires nearby had already been taken!

Passing through a couple of little villages…cherry trees laden with almost ripe fruit…I came across a little old lady on the side of the road selling bags of cherries..which I didn’t really want to carry, so I gave her a donation and just asked for a couple to eat!

Roses sharing the limelight with these hydrangea bushes!

And the promise of things to come….those mountains!

I stopped for my second coffee in a village called Camponaraya…and met up with a young lady from California…we walked together for the next stage…

Spying this John Deere (miniature) tractor adorning someone’s front garden!

More street art!!!

Leaving Camponayara there was this monument to an Olympic (woman) weightlifter …. Hailing from this area? …I researched and yes…. Lydia Valentin who medalled in the 75kg weight in three consecutive Olympic Games from 2008-2016!

We hit the under 200km to go mark…although I’m not sure how accurate these are…as the next one might be a few kms higher!

We were then back into wine country…as we got closer to the next mountain range..

The next town was Cacabelos, here I met Jean, who had taxied there with her sore leg, for my third and final coffee of the day…

Knowing I only had 9 kms to go and having, so far, had relatively flat walking I was still in high spirits… convincing myself “you’ve got this!”

Little did I know as I marched out 1pm ish!

Over a bridge….then up beside a road for a couple of kilometres…

Leaving this last(I thought) town behind me.

At the top of the hill I could see my destination, in the distance, at the end of a long straight road…but the arrows turned me right…Camino challenge…but being alone with no other walker in sight, I, like a good pilgrim followed the track…taking me deeper into the hills and what seemed like away from where I was heading…

Dragging my feet and my heart (a bit) up and down hills through acres and acres of vineyards…until I came across a ghost town it seemed! As you can imagine I was really beginning to wonder where I was…

I could still find the odd yellow arrow which took me on a U turn out of this village, here I spied another backpacker sitting on the only bench eating a sandwich…yay I was not alone! I sat and took some water!

Then headed out past this little display of Christmas?

Then it was up and down these tracks…surrounded by vineyards…for what seemed like miles!

Rows and rows of grapevines… just when I was about ready to sit down and cry…I topped a hill and could see my destination once again, still in the distance!

Ok, so the views from this last 9kms were spectacular, however the enjoyment had long since faded! It was certainly a trek of one foot in front of the other…until I reached the town!

Just a couple of tired snaps from my entrance into Villafranca del Beirzo!

Then of course finding my hostal was tricky as gps does not accurately pinpoint in these small places… collapsed with a beer….relieved to have arrived with no intention to venture out, but the chef in my place was off and I was hungry!

So after a shower I headed to the square…down a cobbled steep street…around 5pm…I had already been on my feet for 10 hours so what was a bit more!

I met up with lots of familiar faces…had a pizza and a few more beers…big mistake…then as I was heading back my German friends bought me a big glass of Brandy to finish the evening! BIGGEST mistake! I wobbled my way back to the hostal, couldn’t remember my room, there were no numbers..and when I did couldn’t get the key to open…a couple of deep breaths and finally got in around 10.30pm…the rest is history! I am not walking today…I am taking a taxi to the top of the mountain (what was to be a 29km climb UP!)