Cacabelos to Villafranca

I didn’t write much yesterday because the Internet signal was intermittent. If it drops out you can easily lose the blog post in an instant, after half an hour’s work. My accommodation (Santa Maria) was at the other end of town but you had to check in at the beginning of town which was a lovely spot but always fully booked (Moncloa). My hostel was small and basic but had everything I needed; the only issue was the house next door, the residence of three dogs and a cat which enjoyed provoking them into rounds of barking. They didn’t take a siesta.

Leaving town at 8.30 am. It was going to be a hot day so I wanted to be on the road early. At the end of town there is an interesting feature, an ancient wine press. A Frenchman was explaining how it worked to his group:

Previously I had never quite understood how it did work, because a new wall has been built to support the press so that the old timber would not break up. Of course when it was in use there was no wall there:

The trough where all the grapes were put is quite large.

The Camino was a gentle climb out of Cacabelos. It was a beautiful morning, sunny and not too warm early on, though it did heat up quite quickly. This was possibly the best day so far on the Camino.

This was an encouraging sign. I had been looking forward to some cherries for a week, but the season is late this year. This place did not seem to be open when I passed by, so I haven’t been able to buy any yet.  But later I found a single cherry dropped on the path so I picked it up and it was delicious!  In fact there were many cherry trees beside the Camino, a dangerous practice because surely pilgrims would simply rob the trees as they go past.

I didn’t think these were perfectly ripe.