Sunday 11 May 2014

Camino Frances (May 11, 2014) - Day 79 Cacabelos to La Portela de Valcarce

Happy Mother's day to my beautiful wife Dawn (mother of three super daughters Lise, Jeanne and Claire), Paulo's wife Andrea (mother of two great kids Beatrix and Pedro), Marc's wife Nancy (mother of great sons Pierre and Jacques), our Maman who is in a personal care home and of course our sister Pauline (super daughter and son Renee and Julien). Bonne Fêtes des Mères to all!

Today was a very short day of 24 kms in just under 5 hours...a great walking day once again in sunshine. We left early at 6:45 so were done by 12:30 or so. The early morning provided great walking in the vineyards however for the second day in a row we missed an alternate route option...this time in Villafranca del Bierzo. We then followed a major automobile route to Trabadelo instead of a scenic more uphill footpath. Unfortunate but it happens...we made our destination.

The day passed quietly with one major exception...yes my friends the dangerous animal is back...more later!

Last night we may have had the best overall supper of the entire Camino for 10€.

Best Supper! Green beans with ham...absolutely delicious!

Pork cutlet...and potato chip fries...something different!

Galician cake...very dense and tasty!
After a couple of hours of walking we stopped for breakfast in Villafance del Bierzo. I went into a cafe with Paulo...however the service was extremely slow...Paulo suggested I might go elsewhere...so I did. Really he just abandoned us to see what would happen...well DISASTER!


This is supposed to be hot chocolate...was like a pudding and tasted awful...no idea what I ordered!
Then Marc and I had some kind of tortilla thingy meant for a late night snack AND to top it off we had some type of Twinkie reject chocolate ugh...lousy donut something or other. A pathetic breakfast...thank you Paulo for your help this morning! See what happens to two Canadians left by themselves ordering food in Spain!

Sometime in the morning we met the Spanish couple I mentioned in yesterday's blog...the one where the gentlemen talks non stop. While we found him irritating yesterday we treated each other as best of friends today..and I gave them Canadian lapel pins! Some pictures from the day...

Early morning sign...going in the right direction in the dark!
Distances to Santiago de Compostela continue to amaze!
Half an hour of walking later...would mean walking 74 kms per hour...no problem for Marc but for Paulo and me...not so much!




For all the Mothers








Citroen


The late morning walk...along the highway!




Some truth to this!
Sorry to report that Dr. Paulo has just had to operate on my first blister...

Now I have tried to hold off long enough...yes a terrifying dangerous animal event happened today


Pequeno Dangeroso Deadliano Vipero

I survived but it was very very close...however I made it through alive!

Tomorrow we are going to do things differently...walking 15 kms to O'Cebreiro which is a very steep uphill climb...then we wait until 3:30 in O'Cebreiro for Cyrille to joins us...then another 9 kms to Alto de Pollo. The planning team, Marc and Paulo has planned and booked albergues for the next few days! As the elder statesman I oversee all operations!

1 comment:

  1. Merci pour les beaux souhaits Guy! Sounds like you are in amazing wine country. Please enjoy a glass of red for me!!!

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