Post Camino Question- Route from Cacabelos to Villefranca

[Rod Murray]

Its been almost 5 months since our Ponferrada to Santiago Camino in June and I've had lots of time to digest the experience. Having a fascination with maps, I've also explored numerous online Camino maps, many linked here in the forums.
My question is this- what is the most used route from Cacabelos to Villefranca? The map I used on my phone took us through Valtuille de Arribe. Most others do not show the Camino passing through there.
We did notice that we did not see any other Peregrinos that afternoon, but did have a lovely, quiet and scenic walk through vineyards, even if it was an extra few km.
What route did you walk? Where was the split in the trail?
Please take the poll above! Thanks for all responses and comments!

 

[naplesdon]

I have walked through the vineyards 2 times, that is the route under the power lines. It is a pleasant, pastoral mainly dirt path and both times I did it in a light rain but it is not muddy or slippery. I think the split is just up the road about 1km from Cacabelos but it is not very well marked if you leave town early in the morning. The other route appears to me mostly road walking.

 

[Tincatinker]

The blessed Brierley's guide certainly shows the route split just (0.5k) after Pieros and the lovely Albergue El Serbal y la Luna. St John's text actively encourages pilgrims to take that variant. I think you had a lucky afternoon if you had a quiet time of it. The actual difference in distance is 1.1k - 4.6k via the 'road route' and 5.7k via Valtuille. The vineyards and the little cafe in Valtuille have it for me every time.

 

[FLEUR]

We took the Valtuille route as well as advised by J.B.

 

[Saint Mike II]

Its been almost 5 months since our Ponferrada to Santiago Camino in June and I've had lots of time to digest the experience. Having a fascination with maps, ...We did notice that we did not see any other Peregrinos that afternoon, but did have a lovely, quiet and scenic walk through vineyards, even if it was an extra few km.
What route did you walk? Where was the split in the trail?
Please take the poll above! Thanks for all responses and comments!

Hola Rod - I too am a map-nut. I took the Pieros diversion through Valtuille and I agree once I was in the vineyards it was a quiet enjoyable Camino. Anywhere I could get away from the road traffic I took that option. Cheers

 

[C clearly]

I couldn't answer your poll. I took the Valtuille route the first time, but managed to miss it the second time. Afterward, thinking back, I wondered "where was that iconic house" (see photo). The third time I made sure to watch for the turn and and found it again!

 

[MargLav]

As a Garmin addict, here's a partial printout from our October 2016 walk ... it was an incredibly hot day and we considered taking the shorter route but walking on the road was not nice at all in the heat ...very glad we chose the walk through the vineyards. That was a pretty long walk from Ponferrada - about 26 kms according to Mr Garmin.

 

[dougfitz]

I have done both variants shown in my now ancient Brierley. This year we walked through Valtuille, but I don't remember the alternative well enough now to venture a view on which I prefer.

 

[MCFearnley]

I did not know there was an alternate route as I was not following a guide or a map, simply using the markers and painted arrows. My route took me through vineyards on gravel paths. I guess I was on the alternate route. It was very pleasant and I was happy to not have to take the road.

 

[billmclaughlin]

I skipped the vineyards because it was cool and early morning on the highway and my priority that day was the variant after Villafranca, which I expected to be quite challenging. (Not the Dragonte, the comparatively easy variant that descends into Trabadelo.)

In the end that variant proved spectacular but it was challenging for at most a half hour, so I could have taken the vineyards before Villafranca. Next time, I suppose.

 

[Rod Murray]

I did not know there was an alternate route as I was not following a guide or a map, simply using the markers and painted arrows. My route took me through vineyards on gravel paths. I guess I was on the alternate route. It was very pleasant and I was happy to not have to take the road.

I did not know there was a more direct route until afterwards, looking at the various map resources linked here. We did not see anyone, or anything, for that matter. No sight of a café or albergué.
It was really hot in the valley, but beautiful breezes and maybe our most favourite photo of our whole trip was taken when we reached the hills above the town heading towards Villafranca.
see attachment