Day 22 Ponferrada – Villafranca Del Bierzo

Saturday 18 April 2009
Via FUENTES NUEVAS - CAMPONARAYA - CACABELOS - PIERROS
Approx 22km

Fed up and frustrated. That sums up today.

I slept terribly and got woken up too early. My clothes that had been hanging up all night to dry were still wet. My knee was killing me all day thanks to the downhill path yesterday, and my legs felt like led. I found the walk very hard too – constant up one hill and down another, only to see another one directly in front of me. I just couldn’t appreciate the beauty of the walk, and I had countless moment s of thinking I could have sat on the side of the dirt road and sobbed. But, at least I wasn’t walking on the highway today – thank heaven for small mercies.




When I finally reached Villafranca, I felt like I had been walking all day, when it was only 2.30pm. But at least I arrived before the heavens opened - again, small mercies. At any rate, today was the day to say a big welcome to the Galician region of Spain. I’m expecting the remainder of the journey to be soggy, if every guide book is to be believed!


I had an email from Stefi from Austria today, and she was only a day ahead of me. I would have loved to have caught up with her, as I really needed a friend today…..My problems with Johan reached a head this afternoon and I just didn’t know what to do about it. He was making me feel incredibly uncomfortable and I tried so hard on numerous occasions to tell him in a nice way to leave me alone, but he just kept appearing everywhere. I had thought that today I would have been rid of him, as he was planning on staying on at Ponferrada for an extra day. However. When I arrived in Villafranca and was trying to find the Albergue, I receive a text message from him, telling me that he was sitting in a café and I had just walked past him. I think this may have been the lowest point of my journey. I literally rounded a corner into a secluded cobblestoned street and sank to the ground in tears. It was horrible.

I decided that I would find the most out of the way Albergue and stay there, regardless of the cost, and I didn’t think he would have found this particular one as there were many others closer to town.

I arrived and checked in, choosing a bunk bed situated in the corner, because I just really wanted to hide myself from everyone. There was only one other backpack in the room, and I didn’t give it a second thought. I went into the kitchen and had a cup of coffee and wrote in my diary. All of a sudden, there was a huge clap of thunder and the electricity went out for a few seconds. When the lights came back on, I looked into the doorway, and there he was, dripping wet. It was honestly like a scene from a horror movie. I can’t even explain the shock of it. I hightailed it out of there and went to the first bar I could find, where I was the only girl in a room filled with men. It was starting to become clear that Spanish women do not frequent bars, especially on their own. I was getting all kinds of looks from everyone, especially the man behind the bar, who made it clear that he did not approve of me being there, and did not think I should be drinking the amount that I ended up drinking. Whatever.

So anyway, I didn’t know what to do, short of taking a day off and putting some distance between me and him, which is not something I wanted to do. I’d been having such a good run on the Camino, and I really didn’t want to let this man ruin it for me. I decided that in the morning I would just have to stand my ground and tell him as nicely as possible that the next week is mine, and it is very important to me that I do it alone. We were all doing the journey for different reason, and my reason were definitely not to meet middle aged Austrian men who have children older than me, and a wife at home. I needed to look after myself and if that meant being mean to him – so be it. But I still couldn’t believe that this was happening.

In other news, I hate my complexion! If I’m not sunburnt, I’m windburnt and my poor little face was constantly bright red with a white sunglasses tan. EVERYBODY comments on it – like I’m not aware!