Celebrating Cacabelos to Villafranca
Day 6: Distance travelled 9km. Total ascent 110m
Weather: Cold morning, clear hot afternoon. Temperature: 30 degrees
“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and celebrate the journey.” ~ Fitzhugh Mullan
It would have been good if FatherBear had noticed the pothole…and then he might not have tripped in it! Of course, being the All Black that he is, he barely stumbled and walked straight on. A little bit of road walking today (not a favourite with vehicles screaming past) soon gave way to a path through vineyards and orchards. We celebrated the warm summery weather, the lack of rain, and the abundance of seasonal fruit available at this time of year. One orchardist perched up a tree with his wicker baskets rapidly filling with green apples called us over and urged us to take handfuls from him. Before we had even finished them we came across a path-side seller with produce and walking sticks for sale. We bought plums and then he gave the younger children even more. Soon we were finding the most enormous blackberries we have come across so far, and grapes too, all growing wild. Is that not an easy journey to celebrate?
Not feeling quite so celebratory about the blisters that developed. Hoping Compeed will work its magic and limited today’s walk to a very modest 9km. Celebrating the fact that we have our own Compeed and additionally were given four big patches of it this morning.
While BlisterMama stayed at the albergue, which has a “feel” to it (initial impressions were of a random eclectic hippy commune where you might lose your stuff but find something to smoke!…can any of you seasoned walkers who are reading guess where we are?), everyone else wandered round town. Look at what they saw:
First stop was a local paneria (bakery) they were just finishing the day’s bake and pulling fresh slices out of the oven. Lunch was some bread sticks and delicious sweet pastries.
It was also the start of the Festival – Fiestas del Cristo del la Esperanza. Time for celebration for the locals. This festival runs over several days so we just caught the beginning of the celebrations.
We can not fault the hospitality at this albergue, as we were returning from our dinner shopping excursion, one of the older men gave us two cold and perfectly ripe water melon. Then as we were eating, he brought out a bowl of plums, as well as a plate of biscuits. We had more food than we could eat so managed to give away some of our remaining dessert to hungry looking fellow pilgrims.
According to our guidebook, pilgrims who couldn’t make it to Santiago could get absolution at the church we are staying next to. We have not hobbled over to the Door of Forgiveness, and as we agree with Augustine who tried to convince his fellowmen that pilgrimages were unnecessary for salvation, we are not walking for this purpose. We’ll just keep on walking, celebrating (God-willing) to Santiago!
Tags: 2012, postcard: Spain
rayres
Those blackberries look incredibly scrumptious! Wise move to take a short day- best thing for the healing of blisters I think. Go well tomorrow! Margaret
Glad to learn that all is going well! I am a fellow Forum member and have followed all your family’s preparations. Keep up the good fight. Ultreia!
Margaret Meredith