Day 2 - Villafranca to O Cerbreiro

 

Villafranca to O Cerbreiro

Day 2 - Sunday, April 12 - 39724 steps

The next morning everyone got up at 6:00.  For reference the sun didn't rise until about 7:30.  Once again, I didn't have any breakfast prepared and settled for a granola bar.  Ellen offered me her yoghurt but I declined.  I had to learn my lesson the hard way.  But at least there was a coffee machine.  As people filtered out into the dark and disappeared, I realized that I didn't have any change for the machine.

Oh well, time to start walking.  As was the case for almost every section of the trail, there were alternate routes you could take.  From Villafranca, there were 2 choices.  The main one which is well marked and the complementario, which is also well marked, but usually more challenging.  Ellen was planning on doing the harder trail.  I figured I didn't want to use up all my energy on the beginning since I still had 8 more days of walking to do.

I headed down hill and passed a grocery story. Maybe it would open soon?  I checked the hours and it didn't open until 9:00.  But then I realized that today is Sunday and the sign said they were closed anyways on Sundays.  It was pretty quiet in the town.

 

Trail markers are usually not hard to find and this was no exception.  There was a giant marker embedded in a traffic round about! The trail headed out of town, along a secondary highway - the N-6.  

  

The previous day had been quaint villages and rolling country side and vineyards.  Today, a highway.  And just when you start to question if this is actually the Camino or not, a Way Marker would appear.  Not quite what I had imagined, but such is life. 

After about 2 hours of walking, the trail turned off of the highway into a small village called Perej.  And walking down the main street I saw a man putting out a sandwich board.  I peeked in and it was a bar/cafe.  I asked "¿Es abierto?" He didn't answer but went back inside and I followed.  He pointed to the younger guy behind the bar and went into the back.  I ordered "cafe con leche" and a pain au chocolate.  They had literally just opened, so I didn't ask about anything like "tostadas con huevos".

Back to following the highway.  Then off to another small village where I bought an orange and a slice of empanada.  Almost every cafe offers freshly squeezed orange juice.  I opted for just an orange and it took a little back and forth to make her realize I only wanted the orange, not the juice.

Zuma: In my Spanish classes, I had always learned that the Spanish word for juice is "jugo".  But so far I had been seeing signs for Zuma.  I figured it was a brand name of juice.  But later on, I learned from a local, that Zuma is the actual Spanish word for juice.  Jugo is the Latin American version.

The trail moved into the woods away from the highway and started climbing.  And climbing.  I stopped at one point to take a break and have a granola bar on the side of the trail.  A guy on a bike came by huffing and puffing, but he wasn't riding, he was just struggling to push his bike up the hill.

At the top was a village called Faba with a little cafe where I had lunch.  I met another Scottish lady there named Angela (no, she didn't know Ellen).  We walked together for a bit before she stopped at another bar to meet a friend.  We wished each other Buen Camino and I continued on.  

I was wrong about being at the top in Faba.  The trail continued upwards for the rest of the day! I went through La Portella, Ambosnestos, Ruitan, Las Heireias on my way to O Ceerbriero.

Almost there and I came to the border between the provinces of Leon and Galicia.  There was a big stone monument marking the border.  A nice, older lady offered to take my picture.  She was carrying an ENORMOUS back pack with an orange rain cover over it (did I mention it was raining).  I mention her because I would see her a few more times over the course of my Camino.  Her name was Sonia.

Almost immediately after crossing into Galicia, it started snowing!  It didn't feel cold enough for snow, and it didn't stay on the ground. But snow?!?!

This is the highest elevation of the section of the Camino I did.  It was 4500ft (or 1300m) above sea level!

I arrived at the municipal albergue in O Cerbreiro and did my standard shower, nap and then explore.  Cute little town with a few gift shops and and restaurant/bar for dinner.

I bought a sticker in the gift shop and the woman there asked me where I was from.  When I told her Canada, she gave me a pin with 2 flags on it; on Camino and the other Canadian.