23 km (614.1km)
Sunday 17th April
I stopped for breakfast today about 6km from Ponferrada at Columbrianos. There were quite a few pilgrims having breakfast there and I actually met up with one that I hadn’t seen since Agès, which was a couple of weeks ago. He looked like he’d lost about a stone since then…the people who shared his room at the Albergues along the way called him Pavarotti due to his loud ‘tuneful’ snoring which kept everyone awake…the Camino grapevine is a very effective information network. After breakfast I didn’t see a single pilgrim until I arrived in Villafranca – once here I met a fellow walker whom I’ve seen most mornings for the last week or so. We always have this broken English/Spanish ‘buen camino’ type of exchange as he speeds past me…turns out he’s Irish and he just presumed I was Spanish…

Today was lovely even although it was rather strange to be completely alone for the best part of the day. The scenery: the vineyards and the mountains, my perfect combination for a contented day. I’ve tried to take some photos but they do not do justice to how beautiful the landscape is. I would have fished out my camera but it was packed zip lock bag within zip lock bag to stop it being damaged by the rain.
I’m staying in Plaza Mayor this evening, my room looks out onto the square enabling me to watch the world go by without expending any more effort for the day. Tomorrow see another choice of the road or undulating hills, I’m presuming I’ll take the hills…