Day 37 – Cacabelos to Ambasmestas
Facing a tough trail today we got around early at our hotel, Villa de Cacabelos, and had the usual toast with marmalade, orange juice, and coffee for breakfast. Then we were off! We started strong and made good time on good paths.
Our path was very scenic winding up and down and around immense vineyards. We rose quickly in altitude leaving Cacabelos behind in a foggy valley. It was sunny with a bit of breeze. The breeze was from behind at the same speed we were walking. I know because I ripped one off and had to live with the results for 30 meters. Maybe I should leave that out but that’s life on the Camino.
Many sleepy villages were on this trail as well as the houses, some times mansions, of the grape growers. The above photo is not one of these mansions of course but a very photographic old villa don’t you think?
We don’t get passed as much anymore. Our walking pace has improved some and our legs have toughened up. Downgrades are walkable now without crabbing (walking down sideways) because of painful knees. Nancy’s very bad ankle problem has cleared up almost entirely. I think because we discovered a stretch for that muscle group that you can do even while walking. It involves not picking up your foot until the ankle has rotated through its full range of motion. This is not something that comes naturally and not allowing the full motion doesn’t let those muscle groups recover with each step by pumping out muscle waste products like lactase, and oxytocin. Soon the muscles get so tight they are like stone and very painful. Once that sets in it takes days to get them to relax even after a good stretch exercise is found. Nancy’s problem was an acute case of this we think.
Our original planned destination for today was Trabadelo. But every room was booked. It’s getting harder and harder to get reservations. This is because most people don’t take to the trail until this area, especially Sarria some 20 km distant. One only has to walk the last 100 km to earn your Compostela (an official document stating that you walked the Camino). So more and more pilgrims are now joining the path taxing the available room and board. Nancy is in charge of defining our destination for each day keeping the distances doable. Then we try to reserve in that town or village. More and more we are finding them booked solid requiring us to find lodging at a greater or lesser distance than we’d like. We are now booking five days ahead.
Today our distance was extended to 27 kilometers because of lodging shortages. This is not a good distance for us as its too tiring for our legs. The solution was to take a taxi from Villafranca de Bierzo to Trabadelo. This avoided a difficult highway route through a narrow valley barely wide enough at the bottom for a river, a pilgrim path, a four lane highway, and the old highway. So we walked 11 km to Villafranca then took a taxi about 8 km to Trabadelo where we again took to the trail walking another 8 km.
We are pleased with this place. It’s similar to a fishing camp with a large trout pond in front. It’s run by a Russian couple and their grumpy Russian cat.
I guess El Gato doesn’t get as much fresh trout as he’d like. We were made welcome with cold beer even before we got checked in. Then fed an excellent meal of smoked trout, pumpkin soup, salad, white wine, and a unique desert like bread pudding over apples with a lemon flavor. Very, very good.
View more photos from week 6
There would be six riders counting us and the guide. We weren’t expecting the English saddles, or helmets. But the helmet was comfortable and though we missed the saddle horn we got used to the saddles too.
We reached a real milestone on the way up the mountain. We entered the region of Galicia in the province of Lugo. This is the last province we will go through and the most dreaded. It is all mountainous with few flat areas. There will be no more mild rolling hills and it’s said that the weather changes unexpectedly here.
When we reached O Cebreiro it was obvious that the trails would change dramatically. As far as we could see from this mountain top village there was just hill after hill to navigate.
Our lodging was nice but cold. The stone walls just suck the heat out of everything. Good thing we got the long handled underwear.
