Valtuille de Arriba → Trabadelo
Distance: 10.25 miles / 16.5km
Elevation: +1816ft, -1635ft
I woke up around 6:50am, feeling like I slept very well. I had woke up once briefly to Mark snoring in the night, but fell back asleep fairly quickly. When I woke up, the bed was so comfortable and it was heavenly to have a proper bed with actual sheets and blankets, making it so tough to get up! After I eventually got up, I used the bathroom, got everything packed, and then had breakfast.
Breakfast was a cup of coffee and bread with homemade jam. Susan and Rocío, the ladies who ran the albergue, have such a lovely home and they have their own garden in the back, so the jam for breakfast was homemade blueberry and pear jam, and it was delicious. After breakfast, I said goodbye to them and got going for the day at around 7:30am.
Mark had left before me, but I caught up to him pretty quickly and we walked together for the first couple kilometers into Villafranca. It was such a beautiful walk into Villafranca, there were mountains and grape vineyards and you could see the town down below, and it was just beautiful getting into the city. Once we got into town, we stopped at a café and I got a tortilla for second breakfast. It was very yummy! Mark also stopped at the café and got a tortilla as well.
I had decided to take an alternate route to Trabadelo today, since I planned a shorter day, and I heard that the alternate route had a beautiful view. The main route goes parallel to a road most of the way while the alternate route goes up a mountain. Leaving Villafranca was the turn to get onto the alternate route, and I was questioning my decision because it was up a VERY steep hill. But it was beautiful, and I took it slow and took lots of breaks, and eventually made it up the worst of the incline. It wasn’t too long thankfully.
Once I walked for a bit, the incline really wasn’t as bad as I originally thought and the views from the top were gorgeous. I stopped and took a sit on some rocks and enjoyed the view for a while, and then kept walking. The walk went by really fast and there was so much to look at and to enjoy. I had only seen about four people all day on this path, so it was very nice to have some solitude. Coming back down the mountain, the route got a little suspicious. The path that I’ve been following basically disappeared and led out into this big field of chestnut trees. You kind of had to just wander through and hope you are going in the right direction.
I had read on one of the Camino sites where someone said if you take the alternativo route, you will need "a good sense of direction and little aversion to trespassing to find your way through." After doing the route, I feel inclined to agree with them. I eventually found my way to the main road, and then it was a steep trip down to Trabadelo which was somewhat tough. I made it into town though, and got to the albergue a few minutes before 1pm, which is when they start checking check in!
I ran into someone who looked familiar outside the albergue, and found out she was staying there tonight too. Her name was Ava, she’s from Canada and I passed her a few times before. I got checked into the albergue (Casa Susi), and then went to the only open restaurant in town to go get lunch. I had a glass of red wine and some fried squid. It was different than traditional calamari, mostly because it came in strips instead of in curls, but it was delicious regardless of shape. This region of Spain is known for its seafood, so I’m glad I got to try some.
Another guy from the albergue, an older Dutch man named Edwin, came and had lunch with me and we chatted for a bit about why we’re doing the Camino and how we found it so far. After finishing lunch, I went back to the albergue to shower and wash my clothes. There’s a big garden in the backyard which has access to a creek, so I went down to the creek and put my feet in the water, and spent some time sitting. It was very cold, but it was nice to soak my feet.
Afterwards, I went back to the seating area outside and I did some planning for the rest of Camino and for my travels afterwards. It took quite a while trying to decide where I wanted to go, and how to make it work logistically - especially as Tovin and I are meeting up in several different places throughout the rest of my trip - but I did end up booking some plane tickets and getting things figured out. It took several hours to do that, so by the time I was done, it was about dinner time. I went back into albergue and got ready for dinner.
Before dinner, everyone went around the table and introduced themselves. I think the most interesting was a couple that met on the Camino 10 years ago, who are now married and doing the Camino starting from St Jean, going to Santiago, and now they were on their way back! They wanted to see what the ancient pilgrim experience was like in its entirety, as before the trains and planes, pilgrims had to walk to Santiago, but then they also had to walk back home. Overall, it was nice to get to know everyone and hear some of their reasons for doing the Camino
The communal dinner tonight was INSANELY good. It was a very yummy salad, and then bread with coriander hummus which was so good. The main course was a mushroom risotto, and then for dessert, they made a fig cake - made of figs picked from nearby trees - and I don’t know what spices they put in the cake, but it was so so good. I feel like I’ve been using the descriptor “so good” a lot, but everything truly was fabulous. After dinner, I got ready for bed, I was so tired from the day that I fell asleep pretty quickly. It wasn’t too long of a walking day, but it was taxing and it was nice to get some rest.
