Day 13
I slept in until 6am this morning, but was out the door quickly, since I usually set up my pack the evening before. Some pilgrims like to lay it all out on the floor and pack and repack in the morning, but I think that makes for a long day.
On my way out of town I experimented with one pilgrims suggestion so use gravity to my advantage and to sort of jog-bounce on small, non-gravel, downhill stretches. Bad idea. Too much wear on tendons in feet and ankles. Thankfully I wrapped up that experiment quickly.
After an hour walking I grabbed breakfast next to the Templar Castle in Ponferrada, and envisioned what kinds of activities and daily happenings must have gone on in its early years after construction.
From there I walked straight through downtown and asked a local to help me find the camino, and they told me about the direct route versus the winding route and so I took straight road to Cancebadon for juice, water, & Coke Zero break before making my way up the hill to Villafranca.
The climb to Villafranca was sunny and warm, but pleasant, as I passed through the local wine country. Thankfully, my feet and legs seem to be getting conditioned to the walk and the slightly increased distance.
I decided to have lunch with Ignacio, Miguel, and Marcos, and we listened to he and Ignacio’s stories of the Franco days, where Miguel was a police officer at the time. They told me about the assassination of Franco’s successor back in the 70’s where the car that he was in was blasted three stories into the air and over one block.
Miguel is from Andalucía and is quite a story teller, so we all sat back and listened to him jabber and talk about how to make the best paella while also flirting with the waitress and telling old police stories.
We then headed back to the Albergue where I listened to the enthronement Psalms while going down for a siesta.
After my nap, I picked up some wine, dry salami, dark chocolate with hazelnuts, and some donut peaches to add to the dinner pool for later that evening.
In the plaza I ran into Mario from Italy, who said he needed to do a shorter 10k stretch next day to recover from the Molina Seca decent. I also ran into Jeremy from the U.K. who was surprised to see me pacing along so well after first meeting me on a cold morning with my knee acting up. The prior days walk did a toll on his hips and back, but he seems to have the strength to keep the pace to Santiago.
Ignacio & Miguel led the dinner prep while Marco and I set the table. It’s nice eating dinner with the Spaniards as the Americans and French have been eating at 6, and w don’t usually get started until 8:30-9.
At dinner Marco announced that he had to go home due to a tendon issue in his right ankle, making it too painful to even walk. He was disappointed, but determined to come back and finish the following year. We had a nice send off dinner for him.
