Ponferrada to Cacabelos, 19 May (7 kms plus bus)

I had previously discovered that local buses ran frequently as far as Fuentesnuevas, almost as far as Camponaraya, so I caught one at 8.40 a.m. and was soon transported through miles of suburbs to a walk of only 7 kms to my destination of Cacabelos.

I had decided to give my stomach a rest so that it could recover, so everywhere I could I simply ordered a black tea with lemon: I must have drunk 4 of these today!

The walk was lovely: through vineyards looking very healthy in rather stony ground.  I rejected the temptation at a Bodega for wine tasting at €1.5  (the only one I've seen in Spain).  It was a bit early and I was still resting my stomach.

I had booked into the Hostal Santa Maria, having been told that the lovely Posada La Moncloa de San Lazaro was full (though its possible I got the day wrong on the telephone).  The Posada looked a really interesting historic building when I passed by, so I resolved to drop in later for a drink later in the day.

When I finally did this at 5.30 p.m. or so, I shouted myself a whiskey to (hopefully) finally settle my stomach.  As I sat enjoying this in the upstairs restaurant area, I noticed it was pouring with rain outside.  What a change in the weather!  This was the first heavy rain I had seen in Spain in 3 weeks:  perhaps this was more typical of this part of the Camino.

A group of ladies were having a knitting lesson from a woman selling beautiful wool.  The group were seated happily at a round table, oblivious to the weather.  I decided to have a light meal there to warm me up before venturing out into the cold wet night.

Posada La Moncloa Restaurant

Church of Santa Maria: XVI century
with 10th century apse

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