alaskadiver
Veteran Member
- Time of past OR future Camino
- May 2017-Camino Primitivo
April 2019-Camino de Invierno
We started walking on Wednesday April 17th.
Ponferrada to Villavieja: nice walk right up until the killer hill leading up to the village. Holy cow that was steep and hot as we left from Ponferrada later than we wanted and hit the hill in the hottest part of the day. Then we waited about 30 minutes for the mayor of the region to come let us into the albergue. Very nice, small place. Nice Dining room and kitchen. The sleeping area is very nice with real cotton sheets and wool blankets.
The heat was still not working so we had no heat or hot water. The mayor said he’d come back with a mechanic to fix it but we doubted that would happen and of course it didn’t. We were the only ones there so we just spread out and doubled up on blankets since we only brought sleep sacks. It wasn’t bad for us, inside temperature was 60F degrees which is 5 degrees lower than we keep our house at night anyway.
Taking a bath was interesting as we had to heat water in the stove since the tap water was as cold as river water! I’d stay there again. It was nice having the little place to ourselves. We used the kitchen to cook some packaged Noors soup and eat some bocadillos we made. Nobody asked us for money, so we just left 20€ on the front desk with our name and sent the mayor a text. He never responded but I assume somebody will eventually come by. Maybe.
Villavieja to Las MĂ©dulas was a short walk but nice. We stayed at Casa Socorro and it was comfortable and very quiet at night. Would recommend it.
Las MĂ©dulas to Puente de Domingo FlĂłrez was another short day but as with everyday, we had steep hills up and down. Stayed at hostal La Torre I and it was nice. We got there early and they hurried to make up a room for us. We ate at their restaurant across the street and totally over ate. Good food and very friendly people.
Puente to O Barco: our tracking app and map recorded this at 20km. We stayed at Pension do Lar which is well into town so maybe that’s why there’s such a large distance disparity. Pension Do Lar sucked. We arrived on Easter Saturday and even though they advertise on the big sign that they are open 24 hours, it’s not true. We got there at 6pm. I called the owner the day before and TOLD him we’d be arriving around that time. He said no problem. Nobody was there. I repeatedly tried to call him and no answer. The phone finally started to just ring busy. The bartender across the street was able to contact him and he said he’d send his bartender to open the place in 20 minutes. An hour and 15 minutes later a kid showed up and let us in. Gave us our choice of double rooms. We were so exhausted as we had walked in 80 degree temps and my husband’s bruised foot really need to get rested.
Of course we come to find only 1 set of bath towels in the room and nobody to call since the kid was gone and their bar wouldn’t open until 8:30 (just gor drinks) on top of that, the shower stall door only opened about 18 inches. I squeezed through but almost fell coming out. My husband ended up taking one of the door panels off the hinges just so he could fit through. I’m a short, not obese woman and I could barely squeeze through, no excuse. Let’s not even talk about the bathroom door that wouldn’t stay closed because it was hung wrong, so there was no privacy when using the toilet. Ugh! Definitely wouldn’t recommend.
O Barco to A Rua was an easy flat walk. But all on asphalt which killed our feet. No views. Just a walk on pavement. Stayed at casa rural Pacio do Sil across the highway from the main town. OMG! This place was beautiful. The rooms and private bathroom are exactly as pictured. Lovely family that I talked to for long periods of time. Highly recommend as long as you don’t care about going into A Rua. There are pulpo stands and a nice restaurant about a 20 minute walk away. Pharmacy, train station, etc.
A Rua to Quiroga had lots of road walking. We’re staying at the municipal albergue and there are only 2 female pilgrims next door. We have a 2 bed room with a big private bath. 20€. Super nice cleaning staff. The ladie’s son owns the place. They had a completely full albergue last night (150 beds) and had to turn away pilgrims. It happened to be Easter Sunday and there was a large group staying here for the wine festival. See....this is why I made reservations for the first 14 days. A lot going on in this region besides pilgrims.
Tomorrow we head to Casa Pacita which is a pension/casa rural 300 meters off the Camino about 3km before Pobra de Brollon. I can’t walk 27km so this location is perfect and they serve food.
The weather is perfect at 40F to 55F until 11 and then it gets hot. Temps in the 60s and 70s. Yesterday it was 80F in the afternoon. Way too hot for hiking. We barely got a drizzle on one of these days. Thank goodness it looks like the temps are dropping back to a more normal and tolerable 40F for the rest of the week. Some mild showers in the forecast but nothing that would make me break out a rain shell. I’m still walking in my purple rain skirt and T-shirt. Hubby in shorts from his convertible pants and hiking shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
I can’t believe people are wearing full on winter coats here. Pilgrims are walking in 3 layers of clothes! Good god they must like to sweat.
So yeah, we’re from Alaska.
To be continued
Irene
Oh, the posts from my Camino with pictures are public on my Facebook page. I’ll update my blog when I get home.
You can find me here and just “follow me” without friending. https://www.facebook.com/irene.InAlaska
Ponferrada to Villavieja: nice walk right up until the killer hill leading up to the village. Holy cow that was steep and hot as we left from Ponferrada later than we wanted and hit the hill in the hottest part of the day. Then we waited about 30 minutes for the mayor of the region to come let us into the albergue. Very nice, small place. Nice Dining room and kitchen. The sleeping area is very nice with real cotton sheets and wool blankets.
The heat was still not working so we had no heat or hot water. The mayor said he’d come back with a mechanic to fix it but we doubted that would happen and of course it didn’t. We were the only ones there so we just spread out and doubled up on blankets since we only brought sleep sacks. It wasn’t bad for us, inside temperature was 60F degrees which is 5 degrees lower than we keep our house at night anyway.
Taking a bath was interesting as we had to heat water in the stove since the tap water was as cold as river water! I’d stay there again. It was nice having the little place to ourselves. We used the kitchen to cook some packaged Noors soup and eat some bocadillos we made. Nobody asked us for money, so we just left 20€ on the front desk with our name and sent the mayor a text. He never responded but I assume somebody will eventually come by. Maybe.
Villavieja to Las MĂ©dulas was a short walk but nice. We stayed at Casa Socorro and it was comfortable and very quiet at night. Would recommend it.
Las MĂ©dulas to Puente de Domingo FlĂłrez was another short day but as with everyday, we had steep hills up and down. Stayed at hostal La Torre I and it was nice. We got there early and they hurried to make up a room for us. We ate at their restaurant across the street and totally over ate. Good food and very friendly people.
Puente to O Barco: our tracking app and map recorded this at 20km. We stayed at Pension do Lar which is well into town so maybe that’s why there’s such a large distance disparity. Pension Do Lar sucked. We arrived on Easter Saturday and even though they advertise on the big sign that they are open 24 hours, it’s not true. We got there at 6pm. I called the owner the day before and TOLD him we’d be arriving around that time. He said no problem. Nobody was there. I repeatedly tried to call him and no answer. The phone finally started to just ring busy. The bartender across the street was able to contact him and he said he’d send his bartender to open the place in 20 minutes. An hour and 15 minutes later a kid showed up and let us in. Gave us our choice of double rooms. We were so exhausted as we had walked in 80 degree temps and my husband’s bruised foot really need to get rested.
Of course we come to find only 1 set of bath towels in the room and nobody to call since the kid was gone and their bar wouldn’t open until 8:30 (just gor drinks) on top of that, the shower stall door only opened about 18 inches. I squeezed through but almost fell coming out. My husband ended up taking one of the door panels off the hinges just so he could fit through. I’m a short, not obese woman and I could barely squeeze through, no excuse. Let’s not even talk about the bathroom door that wouldn’t stay closed because it was hung wrong, so there was no privacy when using the toilet. Ugh! Definitely wouldn’t recommend.
O Barco to A Rua was an easy flat walk. But all on asphalt which killed our feet. No views. Just a walk on pavement. Stayed at casa rural Pacio do Sil across the highway from the main town. OMG! This place was beautiful. The rooms and private bathroom are exactly as pictured. Lovely family that I talked to for long periods of time. Highly recommend as long as you don’t care about going into A Rua. There are pulpo stands and a nice restaurant about a 20 minute walk away. Pharmacy, train station, etc.
A Rua to Quiroga had lots of road walking. We’re staying at the municipal albergue and there are only 2 female pilgrims next door. We have a 2 bed room with a big private bath. 20€. Super nice cleaning staff. The ladie’s son owns the place. They had a completely full albergue last night (150 beds) and had to turn away pilgrims. It happened to be Easter Sunday and there was a large group staying here for the wine festival. See....this is why I made reservations for the first 14 days. A lot going on in this region besides pilgrims.
Tomorrow we head to Casa Pacita which is a pension/casa rural 300 meters off the Camino about 3km before Pobra de Brollon. I can’t walk 27km so this location is perfect and they serve food.
The weather is perfect at 40F to 55F until 11 and then it gets hot. Temps in the 60s and 70s. Yesterday it was 80F in the afternoon. Way too hot for hiking. We barely got a drizzle on one of these days. Thank goodness it looks like the temps are dropping back to a more normal and tolerable 40F for the rest of the week. Some mild showers in the forecast but nothing that would make me break out a rain shell. I’m still walking in my purple rain skirt and T-shirt. Hubby in shorts from his convertible pants and hiking shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
I can’t believe people are wearing full on winter coats here. Pilgrims are walking in 3 layers of clothes! Good god they must like to sweat.
So yeah, we’re from Alaska.
To be continued
Irene
Oh, the posts from my Camino with pictures are public on my Facebook page. I’ll update my blog when I get home.
You can find me here and just “follow me” without friending. https://www.facebook.com/irene.InAlaska
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