Day 26 - Ponferrada to Villafranca del Bierzo
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2012
1
30
36
Trip End
Oct 07, 2012
Where I stayed
Posada Las Donas
Villafranca del Bierzo, Castile-León, Spain
Wednesday, October 3, 2012
Kms walked in total: 605 kms
Kms left to Santiago: 185 kms
Pains: absolutely zero
Blisters: that's the way to do it, you get a blister on your finger, a blister on your thumb, money for nothing...(Dire Straits - Money for Nothing)
For those not directly in the knowledge of what has happened the last week: I had 3 days programmed rest to coincide with Veronika's birthday (at Cudillero, Asturias), but Sod's Law had decided that I had to attend a business meeting in London. That meant booking the same return flight from Asturias International Airport (that still makes me giggle as its a strip of asphalt in between two potatoe farms). I would have returned on Tuesday but Easyjet stops daily flights from London on the 1st of October. So I had no choice but to take three days off in London before restarting.
Anyway, so today meant driving all the way from Asturias International close to Oviedo (250kms), dropping the rent a car off and then walking 20kms to Villafranca del Bierzo.
I had booked a hotel in advance as I knew all the pilgrims would have filled the albergues by noon and I would be arriving by 7pm.
I started walking at 3pm and kept wondering why I didn't just grab the bus to Villafranca del Bierzo. I guess this part of the walk is one that escapees from Alcatraz would have enjoyed...built up areas, roads, noise, traffic, a tree from time to time. What a load of sh¤te! Perhaps it was a great walk 800 years ago when the fastest vehicle was the donkey, but nowadays its "the horror"...a toxic stroll with zero interest.
The only funny thing was the signs to Cacabelos. So bored was one that even the Caca sign made me laugh. Yes...it was that bad.
Cut a long story short...Ponferrada, Cacabelos, Pieros and Villafranca.
I arrived just before 8pm, and went to the hotel / hostal I had booked on internet from London. I entered the reception / bar / restaurant / chaotic place and I could immediately see from the receptionist's / waitress / space filler / hired idiot's face that when I mentioned my name something was not right.
Now, having hotel problems when you travel is bad, but when you have just walked through concrete city for 4 hours...it sucks!
I have always found that the best strategy with an idiot is to smile and be nice (there is plenty of time to laugh at the boss later). So I smiled and she nervously explained that they had no rooms as "someone" had forgotten to close the booking server and therefore where the internet web page appeared to have ten rooms, there was only a box next to the dog house.
So I bit my lip and pretended that crying was the next stage, and she immediately jumped to "but don't worry, we have another hotel a few metres away where we have booked a room...and its much better than this one". She told me the name and I knew it was certainly more expensive (20 euros per night) as I was tempted to book it with all its great feedback.
And the feedback was correct, a boutique hotel with excellent rooms and spa showers. Santiago was obviously using his WiFi to help me out.
I did the same procedure as usual - the "Three S's" (shave, shower and the other one), and I expelled myself to search for a Pilgrim Menu.
There are loads in Villafranca, and I went for "Bar Sevilla" simply because they had "botillo del bierzo" as a maim course. Up to now all the food, with some small exceptions of tapas in Logrono, I had tried before. However the Botillo was something unknown to me - a hidden mystery in the world of the regional foods. Even if it was the only thing I learnt on the trip...I needed wisdom on the Botillo del Bierzo.
I was the only one sitting outside on the terrace even though it was slightly chilly. I really did not want to sit inside where the groups of pilgrims were the majority...and mainly French.
The starter was delicious, but no murder mystery dish...and then came the Botillo del Bierzo. I immediately realised I had seen this before last week...the sculpture to the chorizo at Molinaseca was not! It was actually a monument to the Botillo...and it was identical.
Basically the dish is a sausage of similar size to a double decker stuffed with pork meat. Its the type of food you can imagine a family of 23 surviving for five days...massive. Having said that, it was delicious, although I just don't understand why its in a sausage. I can only think it was to keep the meat fresher in the past.
