Villafranca Montes de Oca, Castile and León, Spain and Canary IslandsDistance by the guide book - 12km
Total distance for the day - 15.
3km
Flights climbed - 2
Today was only a short one, 12km. We thought we’d sleep in a little bit, let everyone else depart the Albergue and then start sorting ourselves out for the day. It didn’t work out that way. Everyone else in our dorm room was thinking the same thing! No one stirred until 7 am. Five of us were all walking the short distance to Villafranca and the other 2 weren’t leaving until 2:30pm on a bus to Burgos. The best laid plans! Anyway we got ourselves together and started walking about 8am.
Because we had such a short distance to travel we just strolled along like a Sunday morning walk at home. Except when someone tagged onto us that we didn’t really take to. Then we lengthened our stride, subtly, until she couldn’t keep up! It was a lovely day, cool but sunny. Great walking weather.
We passed through three small villages and were lucky to find a couple of cafes open on a Sunday. One was selling smoothies which was a great find. Made for a change from the usual tea. The path was a steady climb upwards today.
Nothing too taxing with open fields to look at along the way. Just outside one village, Tosantos, there was a chapel built into the hillside that we could see across the way. Definitely troglodyte like. I’ll have to do a bit of research to find out about that one. It wasn’t mentioned in the guide book. I just happened to stop at the top of the hill to wait for Sheila and spotted it as I turned around.
We arrived in Villafranca-Montes about 11:30 and luckily our pension was open already and the lady offered to do the washing for 4 euros. We had a couple of days worth so we were very happy to take her up on that. We walked back to a bar that we’d seen on the outskirts of town looking for some lunch and stumbled across a fabulous tapas selection. Heaven! We thought we were probably onto a good thing when we saw how many locals were frequenting the bar. The locals definitely like to get out on a Sunday. We’ve seen more today than we’ve seen in the rest of the week. We shared our table with Carmen from Hong Kong who we both thought was about 20. Turns out she’s 38!
Our pension is very nice tonight. We have a private room again but it faces the main road and the main road is a busy thoroughfare for trucks. It’s going to be noisy but hopefully we’ll sleep through it. There doesn’t seem to be any lowering of the speed limit as they zoom through town which is a bit scary.
Because we’d had a very satisfying lunch we shopped for snacks for dinner tonight. The local supermarket was fairly limited in choice. I’ve had a pear, yoghurt, some almonds, potato chips and chocolate washed down with a couple of glasses of red wine. Very healthy! Sheila had yoghurt, clams and muscles out of tins which she said were awful but good for her. Luckily we have good memories of lunch but no doubt we’ll be looking for an early stop on our walk tomorrow to refuel.
Yes, Liz, the difference in the days distances is just the extra walking you do getting to your Albergue, going out to sightsee and walking to dinner etc. We’ve 18kms to walk tomorrow but it starts with a very big hill so it might take us a bit longer than usual. Sometimes in the guide book it looks worse than it turns out to be. We’re hoping for that!
Marl
2023-05-07
The countryside is so green!
Allan
2023-05-07
More beautiful memories and photos - happy Sunday to you both - and best wishes for a great week ahead - the tapas look delicious!! XX
Helen Leben
2023-05-07
Love the look of the chapel built into the hillside- did you get to find out it’s history? Your lunch sounds a perfect reward for your dedication to keep going each day.
Joc
2023-05-07
It’s all about the Camino isn’t it, the art, the signs, the cafes. They must have really suffered during the pandemic.
Karry
2023-05-07
Those tapas look amazing.
Chris D
2023-05-08
Judging from the beautiful pics, the weather is being kind to you. You might need to invest in a tin of Sustagen to mix with that red wine Leanne. Gotta keep your strength up!
Ann- Maree
2023-05-08
You almost make me want to walk the Camino. Almost- but not quite. 😘
Adelkath
2023-05-08
What a journey you are on. This is the closest l will ever get there and you really put me in the picture. It must be wonderful walking through the old towns and villages. I look forward to your blogs every day🙂
Jan
2023-05-08
You seem to have slipped into a good rhythm; I’ll be sceptical if I’m walking with strangers and they gradually speed up their walking pace! Subtle. 😊
Liz Davis
2023-05-09
Thanks for the clarification on the guidebook kms and your real kms. Doing extra kms shows just how fit you are getting. I like that someone was catching a bus at 2:30. That sounds like my type of camino trip.