Day 25, Oct. 5, 2017, Cacabelos to Ambasmestas, 15 miles
We left Cacabelos a little later than we would have liked. Breakfast was served only after 8 a.m., actually more like 8:30 because there was only one waitress and two busloads of people and six of us walkers. Anyway, we ended up leaving at 9:10 and had a pretty stiff climb up to Pieros. On our climb up we passed a beautiful house with terraces covered with vines and playing lovely music. Upon closer inspection, we noticed an old woman cleaning a boar's head - guess it's going to be pig's cheeks (a delicacy here) for dinner tonight!
After this, it was ups and downs through lovely vineyards all the way to Villafranca del Bierzo.
It was a beautiful walk, with the river Balboa running by our side.
Around 4 kms. before we hit Villafranca, I found a men's wallet on the trail. We opened it and saw that it belonged to this Italian kid. We walked on and met a young man who was doing the reverse Camino from Finisterre to Chartres, France. We asked him if he had met anyone who'd talked about losing a wallet. He said that he'd heard something about a lost wallet at this cafe in Villafranca. So we went to the cafe and I asked if I could find a policeman to hand over the wallet. The gal there gave me a sheet of paper that had this young man's contact info. I called him and we decided to meet at our next stop - Pereje. We met him and gave him his wallet. He bought us a beer as a thank you and even gave me a leather bracelet! That was the drama for the day!
We walked on to Ambasmestas in the heat right next to the highway. It was a strange walk. We were in this valley with a steep drop to a river and a lovely green scene on our left and the highway and steep mountains to our right.
It was also surprisingly poorly marked. We finally got to our hotel in Ambasmestas. It was a nice little place. We had a glass of wine and relaxed a bit before dinner. Terry was staying at the same hotel (in fact, he walked the last 3 kms. with us) and joined us for dinner.
We were hoping for an early start the next day because of the dreaded climb - 1300 metres!!!
After this, it was ups and downs through lovely vineyards all the way to Villafranca del Bierzo.
It was a beautiful walk, with the river Balboa running by our side.
Around 4 kms. before we hit Villafranca, I found a men's wallet on the trail. We opened it and saw that it belonged to this Italian kid. We walked on and met a young man who was doing the reverse Camino from Finisterre to Chartres, France. We asked him if he had met anyone who'd talked about losing a wallet. He said that he'd heard something about a lost wallet at this cafe in Villafranca. So we went to the cafe and I asked if I could find a policeman to hand over the wallet. The gal there gave me a sheet of paper that had this young man's contact info. I called him and we decided to meet at our next stop - Pereje. We met him and gave him his wallet. He bought us a beer as a thank you and even gave me a leather bracelet! That was the drama for the day!
We walked on to Ambasmestas in the heat right next to the highway. It was a strange walk. We were in this valley with a steep drop to a river and a lovely green scene on our left and the highway and steep mountains to our right.
It was also surprisingly poorly marked. We finally got to our hotel in Ambasmestas. It was a nice little place. We had a glass of wine and relaxed a bit before dinner. Terry was staying at the same hotel (in fact, he walked the last 3 kms. with us) and joined us for dinner.
We were hoping for an early start the next day because of the dreaded climb - 1300 metres!!!
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