Stages 22, 23, 24 Astorga to Villafranca de Bierzo

May 8, 2025 Astorga to Rabanal de Camino. Distance: 12.96, Weather 60s and partly- cloudy.

Breakfast was a lovely buffet and it was nice to have options other than bread/water. Their natural yogurt was amazingly good.

Today was a gradual elevation gain along a rather quiet road (once I got out of Astorga) and along side a forest. I saw a bunny, but it went too fast to get a photo.

I’ve been gaining altitude and am not far from the mountains which still have snow. It’s nice to be out of the city again.

I made a donation to get a seal made from actual sealing wax from a guy along the road near El Ganso.

This small town, where I stopped for my break, is known for its cowboy bar. I chose the place next door which was a mistake, where I had underwhelming microwaved vegetable soup.

Rabanal de Camino is a beautiful example of a medieval town. My posada is also quite nice. Even if only 2 stars, it’s better than some of the multi-star options I’ve been in.

Either I’m walking faster, or Jacotrans is getting slower because I’ve arrived at the same time as my bag for the second day and thankfully my reservation hadn’t been canceled. I am under 250km to Santiago.

Dinner was lovely tonight- crusty fresh bread, mushroom risotto and the local Maragato meat. This resembled stew beef and was very tender.

May 9, 2025 Rabanal del Camino to El Acebo.  Distance 10.32.  Weather: 60’s and overcast - was supposed to rain, but I managed to miss the rain!

I was able to leave early - at 7:30am, a bit earlier than usual, and was surprised it wasn’t raining.  Today was supposed to be a tough day of 1300 feet uphill walking to the Cruz de Ferro and then 1300 feet back down, so I wanted to start early and see if I could beat the rain.

The scenery was very much like the Cairngorms in Scotland, complete with lovely spring wildflower displays.  The paths were pretty good, but got narrow at times.

What is the Cruz de Ferro?  The highest place on the Camino.  It may have been the origin of the rock cairn, as ancient celts used to pile stones to mark high places, in this case adjacent to Mount Irago.  In the 12C the hermit monk Gaucelmo erected a cross on the pile of stones.  A recent tradition is for pilgrims to leave stones, personal effects and memorabilia as a mark of contrition, gratitude or reverence.

Funniest thing to happen was at the Cruz de Ferro (which seemed to take forever to get to), a taxi pulled over and two obvious pereginos jumped out for a photo of themselves at the cross before jumping back in the taxi and continuing on.  Most people today go all the way to Ponferrada, but I chose the easier option and am glad I did.  It was great to get to the small pension before the rain started and rest for the afternoon.

El Acebo is a very small, charming medieval village (52 inhabitants).  It has been welcoming pilgrims for over 1000 years.  Today it serves as the entry to the Bierzo region, known for its wines.

My dinner (and tomorrow’s breakfast) was at the Aubergue Peregrino at the other end of town.  While walking there I was amazed to see 2 large tour buses trying to negotiate the narrow streets of the village.  Thankfully nothing was hit, but they came very close.

Dinner is the typical peregrino menu and I had mixed salad and soup with strawberries/cream for dessert. Ate with three guys who, it turns out, were the missing 3 Kit and Emma talked about - Colin, Chuck and Donny. We are walking the approximate same days so will probably see them again!

May 10, 2025. El Acebo to Pontferrada. Distance 10.44 weather: rain and in the 60s. I expected today to be all downhill, which it was for the most part. I didn’t expect the extra mile at the end which included more rolling countryside. I thought I’d just make it before the rain, but I failed. I donned my poncho in someone’s sheltered doorway and the older lady finally came out and kindly helped pull it down over my pack.

I started at dawn because my breakfast was at the other end of town. I met my new friends from yesterday for a quick bite before getting out of town to try to beat the rain.

Most of the walk was along a beautiful path down from the mountains.

In a short time I came to the medieval village of Riego de Ambros and continued on to the medieval village of Molinoseca where I stopped for a midmorning snack. This village guarded its segment of the old gold mining route during Roman times. The village has a long history of sheltering pilgrims.

The extra mileage brought me through the village of Campo which I could have skipped without missing anything.  Just after that the rain hit as I entered Ponferrada.

Some notes about Ponferrada: destroyed by the Visigoths and again by the Muslims about 1000 years ago. The name originates from its iron handrail put on the bridge to help peregrinos. The amazing castle was gifted to the knights Templar for defending Jerusalem.

While waiting for my room to be ready and luggage to arrive, I decided to have lunch. Since the recommended restaurant was closed, I went next door and had Thai food which tasted divine after a month of ensalada mixta and soup.

Then it was time to check in and do laundry in an actual washing machine instead of the sink. What a luxury!

Then I went sightseeing and got poured on. It took me three tries, but I finally found the Bierzo Museum. Because of the rain, I had the entire place to myself. No photos allowed, pity because had interesting antique armaments and military medals. I also finally found the clock tower which used to be part of the town walls. Am exhausted.

May 11 and 12, 2025 Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo. Distance: 15.2 miles (split 9.2 miles and 6 miles). Weather 60s and rainy.

Today was a moderately pretty walk in the rain along mostly paved areas. There was one particularly pretty part that was walking along grape orchards of the Bierzo Wine Region as the grapes were just coming out. I split this walk into 2 parts to save my feet and legs from 15 miles of walking on cement, so caught the bus back to Ponferrada from Cacabelos. Cacabelos was destroyed during an earthquake in the 12C, but was soon rebuilt as a center for pilgrim support. This village was to host 6 pilgrim hospitals at its height. Unfortunately, the archeological museum was closed both days I was there. The bus was quite deluxe, I was expecting a city bus, not a long distance bus. It even had internet, which would have been great, if it worked…

Continuing on May 12 - after a poor nights sleep, I took a late bus (10:30) and got back to my start point (the bridge over the River Cua) with no issues. The bridge across the River CUA was the site of a British/French battle in 1809. When the French General Colbert was killed by a long distance bullet from Thomas Plunket. Fun factoid - Plunket became known as the first sniper.

For the next 2 hours I walked in the rain. I was overdressed and very hot, but walking along the vineyards was very pretty and peaceful. The region is known for its cherries which I haven’t had a chance to try yet. Coming into Villafranca I almost wiped out a couple times because the street was so slick. It almost happened when I left too - had to be so careful. The Parador Hotel is very nice and had a lavish lunch to hold me until the 8:30pm dinner time. Dinner of soup, salad and goat milk yogurt with honey ice cream was also delicious.