Day 5 -- Villafranca del Bierzo to Ruitelan

Thursday, June 7
19 km


Good to be walking again. The Tevas are ok--my feet feel sort of naked and floppy, but I´m moving, and that´s the important thing. Hippocrates said that walking is the best medicine, and I think that´s true--even when your feet hurt.

From Villafranca there are apparently 3 routes to choose from--2 high, 1 low. The 2 high routes add on 2 and 13 km respectively, and they climb close to 500 meters and then come back down. Yesterday afternoon, sans pack, I scouted the routes out of town. The high routes head for Pradela, and the beginning of that route was so steep I was slipping all over the beds of my Tevas.

Bootless and not at the top of my game, I decided on the low route, even though most of it is along the old highway N-VI. A new highway siphons off most of the traffic, but this is still very much a road. The first few km you´re on a narrow blacktop with very little shoulder, disconcerting when big tour buses bear down on you.

Soon, the Camino had its own band of concrete, separated from the road by a waist-high concrete barrier. The morning was cool and the road shadowed the Rio Valcarce. Signs nailed to trees read Coto do Caza (Hunting Reserve) and Coto de Pesca (Fishing Reserve). Also saw a lot of signs that said Tramo Libre Sin Muerte, which confounds me (Freeway without Death?) (Just found out the sign is for fishermen and means Catch and Release.)

I saw only one other pilgrim along this stretch (most took the higher, more scenic route), a man with grizzled beard heading east, away from Santiago. In place of the traditional scallop shell on his pack there hung a miniature teddy bear, missing half its stuffing and looking like it had been to hell and back again, much like the man.

The high and low routes meet up at Trabadelo, 10 km from Villafrance, then the Camino heads to Portola, again along the highway. Right before Portola the old highway hits the new one, and you pass by the enormous Hotel Valcarce, with tourist shops and big buses disgorging daytrippers.

I hit Portola at 11:15, and as I´d started at 8:15 that means I walked 10 km in 2 hours, not bad for a semi-cripple in Fred Flinstone shoes. Stopped at a bar for their toilet and for a cafe con leche and a bolillo con tortilla frances (an omelette sandwich). Tasted very very good. It seems that about every 3 km or so you can get a coffee or small meal or at least buy a bottle of water.

Made it to Ruitelan around 1:30, and I´m here at the Refugio, really glad to have my pack and boots off. My skirt and flipflops are proving very useful at Refugios, when I need to pare down as much as possible for my trip to the showers. Left my beloved Dr. Bronners soap and my shower glove (there are never any washclothes) in Ponferrada, so I´m carrying a small slimy sliver of hotel soap.>
When I arrived the hostelero showed me to a cramped room with 3 bunks, the bottom 3 already occupied. I felt the upper bunks, hemmed and hawed, then finally asked the hostelero if there were other rooms where I might get a bottom bunk (hard to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night if you´re sleeping in a top bunk). He led me to the hot but utterly charming attic room, where I got a bed in the corner near the door to the terrace. Just perfect, and no one above me. The only nonbunk in the place. Rinsed out my socks and will soon head into town to see what´s there. Very little, I imagine, but I´m glad to be here. Thanks to those who are commenting--it´s good to hear fróm you.