Dreaming of fish tacos

After a good sleep and a decent breakfast, we started out for the day. We had some trouble navigating our way out of Ponferrada. We were warned that the waymarkers were not as visible here, and this was true. But we asked a local for help and soon spotted other pilgrims to follow and got back on the route for a relatively flat 15-mile walk.

The first part of the walk took us through several small suburbs of Ponferrada. This section was mostly on asphalt, but that was a nice change from the rocky paths of the last two days. In between, there were some industrial zones on the outskirts of town, and I noticed a recycling plant. In every town or village, we have seen these large multi-colored bins (green, blue and yellow) and have observed locals sorting their trash in them. Blue is for paper/cardboard, yellow is for plastics and green is for glass/jars. It’s good to see that recycling is a way of life here. Another random observation about trash here. There are not a lot of public trash cans in the towns and cities, but there is also not much litter. Occasionally on the trails, I have found a beer can or other bits of trash which I generally try to pick up and bring to the nearest trash bin… which is why I noticed the scarcity of trash cans!

After a rest stop in Camponaraya, we moved off of paved roads onto a wide gravel track gently winding through orchards and vineyards. Interestingly, I saw two farmers spraying their vines with some kind of pesticide which was a bit unpleasant to breathe.

I was feeling a bit weary today, even before we hit the halfway point. I still have lingering sniffles and the occasional cough. I think that several days of walking with a cold has taken its toll. Normally, if there is an alternate route we can take that gets us off paved roads, we’ll take it even if it means adding a little more distance. But not today. We stayed on the roads, though it did get a bit sketchy at one point when we were walking on a very narrow shoulder of the main freeway. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful so that helped. Eventually, we got off the freeway and went back to wandering through vineyards for the last few kilometers. Very peaceful. But I still needed to put on my Funky Dance Music playlist to get me through.

We made it to Villafranca del Bierzo and checked into our hotel for the night. Sadly, once again, dinner was scheduled for 8:30pm. What’s a hungry pilgrim to do?? Go get a glass of wine, eat some tapas and dream about Mark’s fish tacos because it is Cinco de Mayo! (Mark, that’s a formal menu request when I get back!!)