A heavy thunderstorm from 6 to 8 last night gave portents for today. We put on all of the rain gear right away, but it only sprinkled lightly for the morning.
The Camino out of Villafranca follows the sinuous valley road between steep hills – or does the road follow the Camino – who was here first? Walking is along a concrete path separated from the road by a crash barrier for the most part, while a superhighway passes high overhead on pylons. On the left is a gurgling trout stream, replete with No Fishing signs. There is a slight climb, the rate of the trout stream.
There is an alternative ‘green’ route but it involves a couple substantial hills, and experience shows that these trails are rushing torrents after a rain, not to be attempted by aging seniors.
The first coffee bar at 5 km, 9 AM, is full, overheated, and too soon. The next at 10 km, 10 AM, serves well for coffee and tortilla, and removal of the rain gear, now wetter inside with sweat than outside with rain.
We encountered a couple tiny rural churches that were open for pilgrims. And some rural cats, my favorite distraction.
By 1:30 we had covered our 19 km, and for the first time, felt like we could do more. Our accommodation is a Casa Rural, basically a farm on the side of the road. The room on the third floor has a sloping ceiling that keeps tall people out of half the room. It has lovely terrace overlooking an Irish green cow pasture with a small stream babbling its way through it. There is a stork methodically hunting his way through the meadow. Did you know storks are carnivorous? Why do they let them deliver newborn babies, then?
So, to a mid afternoon dinner on the terrace, in the sunshine, overlooking the cows. To start, the bean and vegetable soup. At home Vic would make it with kale, here they used something that was probably tough before they boiled it, but now resembled green flannel. But very tasty. The main course could only be – trout, here small trout like my father used to catch. Now, small trout are not really a food source, but given their bone structure, just a rather tasty food that you poke around in. The Vino de la Casa was excellent and had a label that could have only recently been on an inkjet.
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