Day 29 – Cacabelos to Vega de Valcarce (June 24)

Map: Day 29

Oh my gosh….our room was so hot last night. It’s amazing the amount of body heat six bodies produce. It was a relief to open the door this morning to the outside once most of us were up and moving. (The black out shutter was down during the night which meant the door couldn’t be opened without making a lot of noise.)

We were up and out just a little bit before 7:00. We stopped for breakfast at this cool little bar outside of Pieros. As Heather said, it reminded her of a place that would be in Austin. Then we took the scenic route to Villafranca del Bierzo instead of walking along the road. We got to see lots of grapes. We’re definitely back in wine country!

In Villafranca del Bierzo, we had three options. Because there’s a big climb coming tomorrow, we opted for the shortest and flattest one today. And once we were just outside of Villafranca, it started to rain. It wasn’t pouring but it was raining hard enough to bust out our backpack covers and ponchos.

And then we proceeded to stop in every town along the way for either a drink, snack or rest. My shin has really been hurting so I’ve started using my trekking poles as weight bearing poles. It’s going to be a long seven more day if the pain continues!

We decided to stop in Vega de Valcarce instead of continuing the extra 2.2 km to our originally planned Ruitelan because there were only 34 beds there and we were afraid they’d all be taken by the time we got there.

Tomorrow we start the ascent. (I lied in yesterday’s post. I thought we start the climb today but we didn’t quite get there.) We’ll also be doing part or most of the descent tomorrow. Can’t wait! (That’s sarcasm.)

Buen Camino!

I slammed my left eye into the bunk bed ladder getting back into bed because it was so dark in the room with the black out shutters. And yes, I have circles under my eyes too. It’s exhausting walking day after day.