Day in Villafranca del Bierzo

Rest day and tonight we stay in an Albergue here, the "de la Piedra". Hopefully the "piedra" does  not refer to the beds, since it translates to rock. We get a room with a single bed and a double bunk. We are now discussing who gets what although we have not actually seen the room and can't until 1 PM when the albergue opens.

Just registered and the albergue is great! Private room with double bed and upper bunk. The word "piedra  really means rock, and refers to the rocks intruding into the building to beautiful artistic effect, not to the beds, which seem very comfortable. My sister Lisa would approve, I believe. She and her husband George went to great pains to identify and install a rock in the center of their house in Malmsbury, Australia. 

Also, who can resist a place when you are greeted by a friendly dog?

Photos are attached to this post.

Spain's time zone

Spain is all in a single time zone, that of Germany which is further east, due to Franco wanting to appear in solidarity with Hitler. The result is the late sunrises and sunsets we have observed. More evidence that politics trumping science and sense is not a new thing. Vaguely of like the famous Indiana Pi Bill, where pi was effectively set to 3.2 instead of the more inconvenient but correct infinite sequence 3.1415926.... The bill was defeated due to the intervention of a math professor who happened to be in the legislature that day.

Spain is now considering finally rectifying this.

China is even more bizarre, being all in one time zone, in spite of spanning up to 5 hours of earth's solar day.

Villafranca del Bierzo photos

Rainy day here at Villafranca del Bierzo, an old resort town in the mountains. Good meal with sangria vs vino tinto. Some photos of the town are below.

We are seeing people in our hiking cohort as we go along, more or less moving at the same speed. Some disappear for a while, then pop up later.

Some may use the bus like we did today. The evidence of our ignominious act is captured in the photo of the bus tickets.

Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo: a bus trip

Today started rainy, and with Prudence's blisters unhealed we decided to hop a bus for our next destination: Villafranca del Bierzo. Bus fare was 1.65 € and the ride should be around a half hour. The walk would have been around 25 km.

Before catching the bus we walked to the Templar's Castle and had a cup of coffee and fresh Spanish donuts. We were caught by a gullywasher on the way back to the hotel where we left our packs after checking out. However, we dried quickly when it stopped, thanks to the fashionable nylon hiking garments we are wearing, and we are now waiting at the estacion de autobus.

We will soon be in Galacia, which we recall as being the highlight of our last trip, and we will be there until we reach Santiago de Compostela, the end of our trip.

First bus rides in a country are always dicey. You don't know the customs, like how on-time they are. We waited past the 15:30 departure time and ours did not show up, and it actually disappeared off the departure board. WTF? Did we miss it somehow, although we saw no bus leave so how could we have? Asking at ticket window, it appears the bus broke down, and a new one is expected in 5 minutes. Sure enough, it came, we got on, and a half hour later we were at our destination.

Photos from  Panferrada: bus station,  town square, Templar castle, clock tower.

Molinaseca to Ponferrada

Today a short 5 mile hike brought us to the Madrid Hotel in Ponferrada. It started raining the last mile, and is expected to continue the next few days. We are equipped for rain but it's not a lot of fun to walk in. They really need it though so it's hard to feel bad about it.

Finding a restaurant meal in this area is still problematic. Unless you wait until 9 PM, dinner is hit or miss. This afternoon we walked around town and finally settled on buying bread, cheese and salami for lunch. Maybe the abbreviated hours for food establishments explains the scarcity of overweight Spaniards we see.

This evening we ventured out to a different Ponferrada: busy streets, lighted shops with actual customers, and overloaded tapas places, which we gave up on after a cervecia due to overloaded staff, paid the bill(5 €) and went to the Hotel Madrid restaurante, which is a lovely old room, but sadly patronized by only one customer when we came in around 9:15 PM, and only one additional couple when we left. We had the "menu" of three courses, 3 selections each, plus the usual included bottle of vino tinto, for 10 € each.

Tomorrow we plan to tour the castle here, then catch a bus to Villafranca del Bierzo to give blistered feet a chance to heal.

Power and internet services

One of the more gratifying changes from 10 years ago is the almost universal availability of internet (WiFi) and places to charge the numerous gadgets we have brought along that connect to it.

All hotels and many restaurants have WiFi and it's free if you are using the facility. This makes some other countries, including the more expensive USA hotels and cruise ships, which perversely charge for it, look like the third world.

The last albergue in the ruins of El Ganso even had an AC power socket right by each bunk.

It would certainty detract from the trip if we were without either of these facilities (but would compensate somewhat by lightening the load, since without these I would have been tempted to mail some stuff home, including the 14 oz tablet on which I'm writing this post.)

A comment on the number of hikers then vs now

When we last did this hike 10 years ago there were many fewer hikers. I don't have the exact numbers but people we have spoken to said there may be 200,000 hikers so far this year, and at St. Jean Pied-de-Port, a popular starting point, 1500 per day started! That's horrifying!

10 years ago there seemed to be far fewer. The albergue at Roncesvalles, near there, 10 years ago was a single room barn with maybe 100 people in an acre of bunk beds. (We did not stay there, but Judy's cousin's wife Sally did in what we still regard as an heroically  authentic trip.) Now we hear it is a plush almost hotel-like facility.

You don't get an idea of numbers until you drive past them as we did today. Thankfully when on the trail you can't see more than a fraction of them, and we've never encountered a sold out abode.

El Ganso to Molinaseca: first mountain walk

Today we decided Prudence should rest her blistered feet, so we paid our albergue host to drive her to Molinaseca where we planned to get a room at the El Palacio Hostel. Since it would be a long trip for Judy and I walking from El Ganso to Molinaseca with packs, and sending our packs to Molinaseca with Prudence would leave her managing three heavy packs, we decided to go with her and get dropped of with our packs a manageable distance from our destination, a small town called Foncebadon, about 12.5 miiles from Molinaseca. We carried our full packs, but since it was mostly descent, no problem.

The hike was our first other than flat hike so far, and it was beautiful and interesting. We passed through small mountain villages separated by stretches of more trail-like path, with some up but mostly down hill hiking. The last few km were quite hot, and we are anxious to see how our acquaintance Julie and her friends fared descending after the alcohol they consumed up the mountain.

Photos: from our hotel room, along the camino (may have been featured in  "The Way" movie), mountain town, representative trail section, small religious building near iron cross, wind mills in distance enjoying coffee in mountain town, vertical profile of trail.

More shots around El Ganso

Shot these while walking around the ruins of El Ganso this evening, between beers at the two roaring bars in town.

A note on picture resolution

I noticed the maps don't have the resolution to read clearly when they are finally published and am trying to resolve this. But, it might be that there us a catch 22: large pictures can't be transmitted and small ones can't be read.

Astorga to El Ganso - 15 km

Pretty laid back day today with an almost flat 15 km walk after leaving our luxury hotel around the usual late (by perregrino standards) 10 AM. The map for today is attached. 

We were worried after talking to a hiker from Arizona yesterday in Astorga. He looked to be young and in fair shape, and said the hike we were to do most of the next day was really tough. He must have been referring to the last 5 km to Rabinal de Camino, which we planned for tomorrow. Or, maybe he had not hiked in New England before. There is nothing on this Camino Francais from Leon that comes close to even the easiest hikes in the white mountains. Most parts are like bike paths. Your biggest challenges are mental like heat and long straight blister-provoking trail sections.

The country and towns are getting more picturesque as we progress. From well maintained villages to what are practically ruins, such as El Ganso, they all have a lot of rural charm.

We are staying in our first albergue here in El Ganso, Albergue Gabino. There appears to be no alternative private abode. Note the bunks are only two-high. That's Prudence on the lower bunk.

There are two bars/restaurant s in this very small town, probably the only businesses to support the townsfolk. We plan to patronize both.

Astorga: Part 2 (cathedral, Gaudi and shoes)

This afternoon we visited the Astorga cathedral and museum, the Gaudi architected palace turned museun, and bought shoes for Prudence, as her hiking shoes were producing more pain than gain.

Gaudi was hired for the palace turned museum, but did not stay on until it was finished. Church prelates declined to take up residence in this lovely, bright structure so it was dedicated as a museum. The result is spectacular at any rate.

The cathedral museum contained some really ugly works, as the photo of the painting exemplifies. I can't imagine what the artist was trying to depict in the painting here, but no interpretation is pleasant to contemplate. 

Dinner was great paella, and nice wine, but exceptionally expensive.

Blogger problem resolved

Seems the photos were too large in bytes for the connection or tool, so on a hunch I reduced the photos  sizes using my photo editor app, and that seemed to do it.

Perhaps it is simply the hotel connection.

Astorga: Part 1 with photos

We walked a short 1.7 miles to Astorga this AM. First order of business was picking up the package we sent by van yesterday to the Albergue here and mailing it to New Hampshire. The box had been delivered successfully, and we mailed it from the post office a short way down the street, found using the app "citymaps2go", which provides directions to selected places of interest.

At the post office we found signs saying "Admision Polivalent". WTF? I had to look that up. The word "polivalent" translates in my dictionary as the word used in chemistry "polyvalent", which means that it combines with multiple other elements. So the sign would seem to say that the line admits people for multiple purposes. Since the post office did both mail and western union transactions, any line could be used for either type.

We are staying at a very nice hotel, Hotel Cuidad de Astorga, near the Cathedral and other POI's. While the rooms are being prepared we are enjoying lunch in the adjoining outdoor restaurant, and concurrently indulging in the internet (Photo 1). Seems others are also "internetting" it. (Photo 2.)

Day in Astorga- Part 1

No photos: problem with publishing them.

We walked a short 1.7 miles to Astorga this AM. First order of business was picking up the package we sent by van yesterday to the Albergue here and mailing it to New Hampshire. The box had been delivered successfully, and we mailed it from the post office a short way down the street, found using the app "citymaps2go", which provides directions to selected places of interest.

At the post office we found signs saying "Admision Polivalent". WTF? I had to look that up. The word "polivalent" translates in my dictionary as the word used in chemistry "polyvalent", which means that it combines with multiple other elements. So the sign would seem to say that the line admits people for multiple purposes. Since the post office did both mail and western union transactions, any line could be used for either type.

We are staying at a very nice hotel, Hotel Cuidad de Astorga, near the Cathedral and other POI's. While the rooms are being prepared we are enjoying lunch in the adjoining outdoor restaurant, and concurrently indulging in the internet (Photo 1). Seems others are also "internetting" it. (Photo 2.)

Blogger misbehaves

For some reason, blogger, the app I'm using to post the trip log will not always publish posts. So I'm trying some posts without photos to see if that is the problem. If this persists I will try to post photos to picasa with links to the, in the posts

Wine in Spain: ever heard of any of these?

We have been treated to some very nice vino tinto on our Mercado trips. Not only nice, but very reasonable at 1,88 to 2,50 € per bottle. Goes well with our meals of bread, local cheeses, hams, tomatoes and salami. No need to look these up (I think) in the wine ratings, they are local vineyards beyond the reach of the wine spectator crowd. Some vineyards we probably saw harvesting grapes for similar wines as we walked the el Camino thru farm lands today.

We are reminded that wine is expected at each meal here, and comes with the meal. Mineral water is extra.

Our room here at the hostal Juli overlooks our alternative abode, the Donativo Albergue. Photo below from our balcony.

Hospital de Orbiga to San Justo de la Vega (and book review)

Today we got off at the relatively early hour of 10:00 headed to Astorga, but had to get to the post office to mail home excess weight before hiking. However the Post Office is only open from 1 to 2 PM, due to spending cutbacks I suspect. Since we did not want to carry the stuff all the way to Astorga, we came across  a perrigrino (pilgram) van which driver agreed to take it to Astorga, from where we plan to ship it tomorrow. He's supposed to drop it at the main albergue. We will see...

Our hike today stopped a little shy of Astorga and we got room at Hostle Juli in San Justo de la Vega, which has a bar and dinning room. The Camino went almost entirely on dirt farm roads made dusty by the dry conditions and a great number of hikers. We have seen more hikers this time than last by many multiples.

I have been listening to audio books on an iPod during the parts of the trail where I'm tired or where it is less interesting, and today I finished "Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail", an account of a backpack along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) by Cherl Strayed. The author spends too much time engaged in introspection of her relationship with her dead mother for this book to have real appeal to the reader expecting an outdoor adventure tale.

Thankful "Wild" was over I started "God is not Great" by Christopher Hitchins, the aethist who argues eloquently and persuasively against organized religion, which was ironically the motivation for the pilgrims who began the first pilgrimages for which the El Camino we are now hiking was developed (although that was not our motivation.) It can be argued that religion does some good works since it established the trail we are enjoying now. But Hitchins would probably point out that may be a little like saying the house fire did some good because we no longer have roaches. And of course many arguably much nicer trails have been built without religious motivation. Like with art, religion can be a strong motivator, although an indirect one, since I seem to recall most great religious art was done by artists well paid by the church which sometimes extorted the money from frightened parishioners. And their motivations were in large part propaganda. Anyway, I won't go further along this line now since it has little to do with our El Camino trip.

Note two of the photos today feature the Roman torture machine, the cross. Also, a new blaze, an arrow made of stones. Finally, a photo of the albergue across the street, which was our alternative abode.

Second day synopsis: short walk

15  be precise, unlike yesterday's 23 K. We went only to Hospital de Orbigo from Villadangos. 10 years ago we went clear to Astorga from Villadengos. The map in this post shows the entire Villidangos to Astorga route.

Although it was shorter than yesterday , it did not seem proportionally shorter. We stopped on the way at a pleasant albergure for a coke and snack of frutad freshly made by the on-site host. We passed the distance to Santiago marker on the way. (See photo)

The Camino was more pleasant today, with shaded paths running by small cattle paddocks, as the third photo illustrates.

We are staying at the albergue  Encina in a suite with a single and double room, plus kitchen and bath. Cost was 57€ for all three of us. The suite is on the third floor, and after the walk, with packs on our backsm the stairs were almost our undoing. We now plan all activities to minimize trips to the rooms. Since we are shortly to have dinner, which in authentic Spanish tradition, is no earlier than 8 PM, we have one more trip today. We hope to then have only the trip down tomorrow.

We crossed a beautiful Roman bridge over the Rio Orbigo coming into town (see photo). We were envious of the people in a camper on the riverbank below (not in photo)

Now, to dinner, which will be described tomorrow if there is any note worthy aspect to it. The menu, handwritten by the bartender on a napkin at my request,   took the better part of 20 minutes to translate (See the photo) It seems there are two parts: primo and secundo. Primo is a choice of paella, salad or some mushroom concoction. Secundo looks like a choice of steak, mixed grill or lomo, pork loin. We will see how this translation is for accuracy.

Later: dinner was OK, bit not really up to US standards. Whereas last night our lamb appeared to be road kill, dismembered without regard for where anatomical joints actially were, but cut across bones only appoximating the correct locations, we shyed away from unknown cuts tonight, ordering bifsek, or steak. Picture a nice think rare steak? I did too, but what we got was more like chipped beef in both thickness and well-doneness, if not in flavor. Anyway we considered it a victory when there was a notable absence of grease. To add insult to imjury , the locals who knew to come later got a different and maybe better menu.