Molinaseca → Valtuille de Arriba
Distance: 16.5 miles / 26km
Elevation: +1032ft, -1171ft
I woke up late today, at around 6:45am. I forgot to set an alarm last night, and I woke up this morning to someone rustling around - I checked my phone and was shocked that it was so late already. I was one of the last people up, so I tried to quickly pack up my things and get ready for the day.
I believe the albergue had breakfast, but I didn’t really check because I wasn’t super hungry at that point, and usually the albergue breakfast does leave a bit to be desired... so I just peeked my head in, and then left for the morning. Even though I got up late, I left when it was still dark out, and it was about 6km to the first town, Ponferrada - the last big city before Santiago de Compostela!
At Ponferrada, I stopped and got a doughnut, and a café con leche for breakfast. Another unhealthy breakfast, but the donut look really good! I stopped at a pasteleria so they mostly had pastries. There was a café, maybe 100 steps from the pasteleria, where I ran into Liz and Charlie. I didn’t stop, but I said hi, and later found out that Charlie was dealing with bedbugs she had gotten from the night before. The albergue that she stayed at was the one that I had originally booked for yesterday and was going to stay at, so I was glad I saw the review about bedbugs and chose not to stay there. She had to stop at a laundromat in Ponferrada and put all her clothes, as well as her pack through the dryer, and it was just quite an ordeal.
I kept walking through Ponferrada and the walk was okay, but a bit boring. A lot of it was on pavement today, and my feet were really starting to hurt by about halfway through the day. I walked on my own pretty much all day, and at around 11:30am I stopped at a café in a small in-between town. I got a slice of chorizo tortilla with a slice of baguette, ate that and took the chance to just rest my feet and stretch a bit
After sitting for a while, Santiago (who I had met the other night) came and we walked together for maybe 15 minutes. He didn’t stop at the café that I did, but he ended up stopping at a grocery store and bought stuff for lunch there while I kept walking. The rest of the day I walked alone and it was a bit boring for a while, but then I started passing through wine country, filled with beautiful grape vineyards. I was still in the mountains, and some of the views were quite lovely!
For the last three or so kilometers of the day, it started to drizzle and then rain. I was feeling very tired at this point, and I really wanted to just make it to the albergue so I sped up my pace and passed a number of people who had passed me earlier in the day, including a number of individuals from what I've been calling "the super group" (a massive group of cliquey, “cool kids” on the Camino that travel in a giant pack).
I got the town the albergue is in at around 2:30pm. It took me a second to figure out how to work the gate, but I eventually got in and I was really excited for this stay. It’s run by two women (Susan and Rocío) and there’s only five beds total in the whole place, so it’s a very small, cozy place. I was the first one to arrive and to get checked in. One of the owners made me a cup of lemon ginger tea, which was very nice after the rainy and slightly cold walk. After she showed me my bed and the bathroom, she let me go loose and I sat and unwound for a while while drinking my tea, and then took a shower. The shower was absolutely lovely, and they provided soap which was a rare luxury along the Camino.
After I showered, I did my laundry, and they provided soap for that as well! It was quite a nice laundry setup, and at this point I was still the only one there so I took my time and washed some clothes that were my designated “clean” clothes, which I hadn’t washed yet on the trip. It was nice to get a big laundry load done, and do a bit of a reset. After I finished laundry, I sat on the patio for a bit, had another tea, and planned out some more stages for the final few days into Santiago. I had been told by many people that the days before Santiago get booked up quickly, so I should book as far ahead as possible once I know my plans. You only need to do the final 100 kilometers to get the certificate of completion, and so it is the most popular section.
At around 5pm, Mark arrived at the albergue, as he was the one who had told me about this place and recommended I book it! Soon after he arrived, I realized we were the only two there were going to be here for the night, which felt a bit strange compared to staying in albergues with 100s of other people sometimes. After he got settled in, we sat and had some wine together and caught up. It was nice to talk about how our walks went today and what we thought of the journey so far and a number of different things. I mentioned that I was starving since I hadn’t eaten since the tortilla at about 11am this morning, and he was kind enough to share some of the snacks he had in his pack.
The ladies who run the place have 5 (five!!) dogs that they let out, and it turned out that Mark was a huge fan of dogs, so he was having the time of his life. One of the dogs was absolutely obsessed with balls and will literally chase a tennis ball all day, bringing it back and asking you to throw it again over and over. Another one of the dogs was a really fat yellow lab, and another was a skinnier black dog named Loki who was such a sweet soul. We sat outside and pet and played with the dogs for a while.
The afternoon passed by pretty quick and at around 7pm, the ladies called us in to tell us it was time for dinner. Dinner was some sort of blended veggie soup that was very delicious, and a ratatouille with wine and some fresh fruit for dessert. The meal was made with veggies from their garden and it was all so good. It was a bit odd to have such a small communal dinner, as we had both been used to dinners with tens of people. But I was glad he had told me about this place as it was a very homey and nice albergue! And he was glad he had told me about it, since it would’ve been a bit odd if it had only been him here tonight.
After dinner, we went for a stroll through town. This was a pretty small, run down town, and this was the only albergue in the town. Technically, there was a bar too, but we both had walked past it coming into town and also on our walk, and it looked like it hadn’t been open for quite a bit. We talked about how fun it would be to open a cafe in a town like this along the Camino, or to buy a run down house for sale in this town (and there were a lot of them, but mostly in pretty bad condition) and how it would be very cool to restore it and live in it. Maybe that will have to be an idea for Tovin and me someday.
By around 9pm, we were back to the albergue, where we both took our laundry back to our rooms for the night, and then I got ready for bed. They have 2 bedrooms here, one with 2 beds and another with 3 beds (no bunks, all single beds!) and I thought since there were only two of us, maybe they would give us each a separate room. But they put Mark and I in the same room, which was okay too.
This albergue was really nice and provided hand cream and foot lotions in the bathroom, which I definitely took advantage of. My hands have been really dry recently to the point where the skin on one of my thumbs split open, so the hand cream was really nice. The foot cream was also really nice to hydrate my feet, and supposedly works for 48 hours after application. I got into bed, and it was quite nice to be in a place with an actual bed, and I wasn’t sleeping out of my sleeping bag liner!
Tomorrow I have a shorter day, so I get to sleep in a bit and take my time, with no rush to get to anyplace. This albergue was a very special and meaningful experience, and I'm really glad I stayed here. It was nice getting the afternoon basically completely to myself, to be able to catch up on things and take alone time. It was also nice to visit with Mark some more, and even though we’ve been walking together on and off for a couple weeks now, and we’ve crossed paths many times, he’s a nice person and we both have similar attitudes and personality types. If you end up in an albergue with only one other person, it’s nice if that person is someone you’re friends with.
Between the hospitality of the ladies here, and the yummy dinner, the energy and affection of the dogs, and the visiting with Mark tonight, it was just a lovely day of walking (even though it was a bit long and painful) and a lovely afternoon and evening of relaxing and recharging. I can’t wait for my shorter “rest” day tomorrow, and to get to see some more beautiful views! It’s truly crazy to think about how far I’ve come and how little there is left.
