3rd of April 2012

3rd of April 2012 Molinaseca to Villafranca 39,700 steps on my stepometer. I found todays walk a little bit difficult because it was a huge distance to travel and also my legs were aching proper bad from coming down of of the mountain yesterday,the weather has seemed to turn a bit today and its cold and also overcast with rain threatening,i plod on the path for many miles till i reach Ponferrada where i get accosted by three very enthusiastic Jehovah witnesses trying to get mt to convert,not knowing to much Spanish help me escape them as none of them spoke any English. After many miles more walking i finally arrive in Villafranca del Bierzo roughly 8 hrs after setting off,extremely tired i like crawl into the albergie called Ave de Phoenix which seems to be a very quirky place somewhere that wouldn't go amiss in the Himalayas,they serve a communal meal at 8 pm for 8 Euros to all the pilgrims and this i found very good and very tasty and the hostel was full with pilgrims staying too,secretly i go off into a dream wishing that tomorrow i will rest with my feet up and maybe treat myself to a hotel,hmm let me see how i feel in the morning........

4th of April 2012

4th April 2012 Villafranca del Bierzo to Laguna de Castilla 40,109 steps on the stepometer. Today the muscles in my calfs are very stiff and It takes about half an hours walk for them to warm up,this with the many blisters I have covering my feet, and that i didn't get a good nights sleep last night in the albergie because it was proper rammed packed with pilgrims , makes for a lot of uncomfortable pain,I decide to take the recommended route out of Villafranca towards the mountain village of Pradela,the path is super steep and I seem to be the only one that takes this route it's very beautiful but extremely hard going because of the pain in my feet every time i take a step,the path up the mountain is awash with beautiful lavender and pink and white flowering heather all flouring in natural abundance all around me. It's only when I manage get to the village at the top on a plateau about three hours later, that the path heads very steeply down to Trabadelo I wish I hadn't taken this route,I arrive at the bottom with seriously shaking legs and have a rest but not for too long as my muscles lock up when I do and it takes them a good ten minutes of walking to warm back up,the path at this point heads up and up and up some more and eventually I reach Laguna de Castilla where I decide to rest for the night very tired and with extremely sore blistered feet. I honestly don't know where I found the energy for today's walk but tomorrow the thought of Santiago beckons and I will find somewhere the energy to cross over into Galicia.The albergie here came recommended by a group of Spaniards that i was walking the Camino and doing a bit of Yoga with for a few days.It was called La Escuela, it was run by a lovely family for 9 Euros, it was immaculate each room only having four beds in and each room having a pristine bathroom with plenty of hot water for a shower in.