What a beautiful day we had today - one of the prettiest stages on the Camino!We were out the door by 8:30am and on the road to Ponferrada, where we wanted to do some sight seeing and take care of some administration issues, like collecting another care package at the post office, arranging accommodations for the next two nights and replacing my broken Canon camera.
We had breakfast at a cafe just across from the Templar Castle and then bugged the poor lady in the visitor´s center to assist us with reservations for accommodation. It did not seem like this is was something she routinely did as when being told the room was 30 euros and shared one bath with 10 people she hung up and said we could do better! She was very helpful and we are happy with the hotels she booked and distances we need to walk over the next 2 days.
Today we walked about 20 KM and arrived here in Cacabelos around 5:30pm. We visited some churches and hermitages along the way here and this takes time.
We were also fascinated that it was the harvesting of the grapes today for the cooperative of Bierzo. One farmer with a load of grapes stopped to take a phone call and invited us to take any pictures we wanted and to sample his grapes. Delicious! We then had an omelet for lunch at Componaraya before walking on through beautiful vineyards with a lot of activity. Whole families were out picking the grapes by hand. We walked out to some of the pickers and they showed us that some of the grapes had been dried out because there was not enough rain but they said they were the best grapes in the world. We then walked by the Cooperative and saw all the little tractors coming in with the grapes, being weighed and then a funny machine sampled the quality of the grapes. The farmer was then paid based on the quality and quantity of his grapes.
We are now in a lovely hotel which David has splurged on - also only place that had a room - La Moncloa de San Lazaro and our honey moon suite is featured in their ad with a Jacuzzi for 4 persons. (120 euros per night) My back pack had arrived here so when ever I don´t carry it I am happy to see it arrive!
David dragged me down to the emergency care here once he determined there was one so that my left heel could be checked again as it continues to look very messy. The Doctor said no infection and just put some iodine on and another really good foam bandage (drats- means I can´t get my foot in the jacuzzi!) and he also asked for an additional bandage for a couple of days from now, which they kindly gave him. He had tried to get this type of bandage in various pharmacies in Leon and it was not available. He is so sweet as he knows how much I want to finish this Camino. He carried the backpack all day today and tomorrow is a 25KM day. I am sending my pack as in addition to the distance there is about 400 meters of ascent.
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