Camino 2016: Via de La Plata Day 28 - Villafranca del Bierzo to Ruitelán

Monday April 25, 2016
Today the decision was whether to take the high (hard) route or along the road for the first half of today's stage. It was a beautiful morning and I decided to take the high route. It went up very steeply right from the edge of the town very near my albergue. It involved a steep climb of 460 meters (1,500 ft) followed by a fairly flat part and then a steep descent down the next little town (Trabadelo). The who length of this is 11km.
As I left the town soon after 7:00 it was just getting light. There was a nice view back over Villafranca.

And as I got higher the town got smaller. The sun was still below the mountains on this cloudless morning

I also tried a panorama picture

On the flat part there were spring flowers along the trail

Through a pine forest. It looked as if there had been a forest fire here recently

Then we were on a track. I think it had been made when the tall power lines were installed. By now I was walking with a couple from Australia. I had been overtaken by another man but he was going very fast and we didn't have time to talk. Otherwise I didn't see anyone on the whole 11km. It was quiet and lovely.

There were some nice views across the valley and looking west after we reaches the the highest point.

Then we started down. It was mostly steep and I didn't get any photos. There were no trail markers and it was difficult to find the right path as we went through a sweet chestnut forest, but the trees were all bare still.

The views were spectacular with the mountains all around but this never shows up well in a photo. As the sun got higher it started to light up the mountains across the valley.

The way down to the main road was not marked at all and we had to guess our way through the forest of sweet chestnuts but found a road and headed on down the road until we came to a trail marker which I followed down to Trabadello and joined the main route. This was along the road for almost the whole way including the next 10km to the place where I stopped to spend the night.
Down along the river, some sheep and goats in a field.

I found an albergue and checked in and went through my usual routine. Several other people also came along during the afternoon but we will only be 3 in our room tonight. Myself and 2 Frenchmen
We had a communal dinner in the albergue this evening. It was a very good carrot soup, a nice salad, spaghetti carbonara (a bit too greasy for me) and a sort of custard dessert.

They have told us we must not get up before 7:00am tomorrow but I don't think I can stay in bed for 10 hours when I want to be up and going in the morning. We will have to see!

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