Camino francés - Page 12

Ponferrada - Pereje (ca. 27 km)

We had breakfast in the bar from the previous evening and then walked through the town center of Ponferrada with its mighty castle. Further it went along especially streets, the weather was ok, now and then the sun came through, but it was rain-free. In Villafranca del Bierzo we had we took our meal, the small town is very nice at the foot of the mountains. Through the valleys we reached after 5 more kilometers Pereje, a village in the forest, a few hundred meters from the trunk road. In the one bar we could pick up the key for the hostel.

We remained the only pilgrims here, in summer this accommodation may also be quite nice, but in winter, well. It was freezing cold here, the first thing we looked for wood for the fireplace in the attic, where the bedrooms were. But the wood was wet, even with the few newspapers we could not make a fire. We tried everything, preheated the wood on the propane stove, chopped small pieces, but nothing happened. Even the hospitalero, who arrived in the meantime, could not get the fire going. We gave up after a few hours and warmed up in the bar across the street. Even the showers were cancelled today. Warmed up by alcohol, we slipped into our sleeping bags. The comfort range of my sleeping bag is listed as -6 degrees, I think the temperature moved around that during the night.

Pereje - El Cebreiro (ca. 26 km with detour ca. 31 km)

We were early in the bar for breakfast, we just wanted to get out of here. It went the first 8 km again along the edge of the trunk road. After a coffee at a rest stop, the path then slowly went uphill on smaller roads. We crossed some villages and it became steeper and steeper. On the way we met a young pilgrim, he was coming from Santiago. We had already met some pilgrims who were walking in the opposite direction, for whatever reason. As we realized too late, we had overlooked a bend in the road and now had to take a detour of about 5 km.

The running became more and more difficult, the snow was high and the wind whistled properly. We didn't talk much anymore, everyone had to do with himself. After a few hours of struggle, we then reached a winter sports resort 5 km before the finish. The sky cleared up and it became still a beautiful winter day. We ate here first properly and warmed up. The last kilometers to the O' Cebreiro were gigantic, it did not go so steep uphill and we had a wonderful view over the landscape.

Only on the cars one had to give care, it went up a snowy street. "O'" is the Galician article to the Spanish "El" explained to me Jana to the name of the mountain. We were also faster than expected on top of the mountain, the car traffic of winter vacationers jammed here. The hostel was fantastic, very large, wonderfully warm and tidy. We rested a few hours after the hot shower and in the evening went to one of the restaurants. In the first one we didn't feel comfortable and we moved into the next one. A giant fireplace made it cozy, and after some persuasion we shared a octopus and some ham and cheese sandwiches.

I eat seafood or something like that, especially out of curiosity, but it will not be my favorite food. Quickly we found some people from the village, one with a bagpipe, another with a drum and they played Galician music. It sounded very Irish and people started to dance and sing along. Later, a fisherman from La Coruna unpacked a guitar and joined in. People came up to us, made sure we were having fun and chatted with us. At some point, they all disappeared into their shelters and asked if we would be here later, they would would be back. But we were too tired to party all night. At the hostel we found other pilgrims, Koreans and a number of young people. With the latter there was some trouble at night, they turned the Camino into a booze cruise and were yelling in the night. I heard only now and then Jana loudly scold.