AlmostAdventurous: Day 32 (10/24) - Cacabelos to Trabadelo (19.1km)

Saturday, October 25, 2014

Day 32 (10/24) - Cacabelos to Trabadelo (19.1km)

Left town at 8am and it was still pretty dark and we watched the sunrise while walking through vineyards where the vines were turning dark red - very beautiful. The first 8km was through rolling hills covered by vineyards and through one or two small villages. Then we entered Villafranca del Bierzo around 10am. We visited a church that had a nice exhibit related to pilgrims and the camino. More specifically, the exhibit emphasized that this is the 800th anniversary of the pilgrimage to Santiago made by Saint Francis of Assisi. We had a nice early lunch with a few of our favorite dishes and two glasses each of red wine - that made our afternoon distance of 10km seem a bit longer! Last year we walked the "high route", with a big climb and then following the ridge-line through chestnut groves. This year we followed the two lane road in the valley floor so it was a bit easier. Although we were mostly along the road, it was also along a small river and the trees were displaying their fall colors. We arrived Trabadelo and stayed in the Albergue Crispeta, paying 8 euros and have a shared room with 4 twin beds and its own bath. A pretty good deal since the room full of bunk-beds would have been 6 euros each. Turns out we were lucky and there was nobody else in our room! We enjoyed a drink and then later back for dinner in the nearby "Gastropub" that we ate in last year. The "Maybins" (Carol Anne and sister Almeda) were staying there and we had a very nice dinner with them. The owner is Dutch and does everything (cooking, bar-tending, etc.). Dinner started with a wonderful peanut soup and then I had fish stew with rice while Cindy had Moussaka and we had homemade liqueurs for dessert.