Day one on the Camino Francés

Well at the last minute I almost veered off onto the Camino de Invierno but decided to stick with the Francés.  It's been almost ten years since I've been on this part of the Camino and the changes are obvious and sort of what I expected to find knowing how exponentially pilgrim traffic has grown. Bars, hotels, pilgrim ads everywhere. During almost the entire 24 kms between Ponferrada and Villafranca del Bierzo I had at least three pilgrims in sight ahead of me and the same behind me. And coming out of towns there always seems to be a bunch-up till everyone falls into their stride and we string out along the path.  Always a cast of characters -- most are either young (20s) or my age (old) --and the US invasion is a reality.

Though I enjoy and am used to walking alone, it's been fun to have little snippets of conversation with others. Over today's pretty short walk, I walked for a few k with Mañuel, a man from Ponferrada who walks out 14 km to his finca every Thursday and then back, and who made sure I knew his opinion of the Spanish government and all those cabrones in the EU. Then there was a weary catalana walking in memory of her brother, two German girls who had a lot of complaints about Spanish food but a lot of praise for Spanish wine (I met them as they were coming out of one of the many tasting rooms along today's route--Bierzo wine is rich and fruity).  Then a Spanish couple fretting because someone had taken the guy's walking sticks from outside a bar (theft is really up along the camino -- I heard there were several thefts from the big albergue in O'Cebreito a few days ago--one guy apparently had 1000 (yes, that's three zeros) euros stolen --WHO walks with that kind of cash). 

Anyway, these are the kinds of random conversations that while away the time while walking. And the scenery was very pretty--vineyards and rolling hills with some more serious mountains behind.  

And I am happy to report that since I've arrived here and have passed the "puerto del perdón" in the Santiago church, if anything happens to me and I don't make it to Santiago, I will have received the forgiveness and indulgence that awaits most pilgrims in Santiago. 

I arrived in Villafranca only to see that my "wing it" plan had been thwarted. The private albergue was all reserved up,  the municipal is big and crowded, and the Ave Fenix is a "legend" but one where the  ambiance doesn't depend a lot on cleanliness (Dana and I slept there once, probably in 2000 and I remember we didn't give it a Good Housekeeping award). Then the first three pensiones I called were also full but I finally got a room in a hotel where I slept years ago, but I know that only because my name, address, etc were already in their system!  

So much for the free spirit approach, I called and reserved a room in O'Cebreiro for tomorrow.  This will be a memory-laden stop as well. The last time I slept in the Venta Celta I had huge infected blisters on my very first camino and was under Dana's loving care. We had a meal I remember well, crowned by the dessert of the local cheese with honey.  Maybe you can't go home again, but you can repeat a serving of queixo O'Cebreiro!  

And it would be hard to get lost now !