September 13, 2013
Villafranca del Bierzo: La Fiesta del Cristo
Molinascea is a lovely little village. It has lawns running down to the river which are surrounded by our Hostal and Bars. It was there that we met up again the Australians we had talked to in Rabanal. They are a group of 6 walking the Camino from Leon to Santiago. It was only their 4th day of walking so many of them came off the mountain pretty hot and tired as the descent from Cruzo del Fero is particularly challenging for walkers on the steep stony tracks. The group is led by Pat and Gordon from Melbourne and is called Mid Life Treks and in 14 days gets you to Santiago over some of the most interesting parts of the Camino in what looks like very pleasant company very ably lead. Their web site is www.midlifetreks.com.au have a look.
The road to Ponferrada is very straight forward but we had expected to have some problems getting through the city but it was surprisingly easy. It all looked fairly modern so we were pleased that we had made the decision to stop early yesterday. After Ponferrada there are a series of small towns which lacked the charm of the villages of yesterday as one seemed to run into the next with just a bit of scruffy semi urban development between them. At Pieros we made a wrong decision . We turned up a small road and were soon on the walker’s very rocky track which led up into the vineyards. Thinking it would only last for a few minutes before we were once again on the road we continued. A wrong decision as it went on and on up and down hills through the vineyards. Some of it was unridable on our very heavily laden bikes but fortunately we were at that time of day when there is a hiatus between walkers so I hope we weren’t causing them too much irritation. For us of course the vineyards were of great interest. Most of the grapes were red and usually they are grown without any trellising at all and have minimal or no trimming and certainly no leaf plucking. Those growing on the minimal trellises to our eyes looked better and some of these had a bit of trimming, one particular vineyard was well leaf plucked down the north side. We had thought that by now they would probably have started to pick but by the look of the berries that is probably a couple of weeks away. A rather different look than the vineyards of the Medoc.
We came to the little town of Villafranca del Bierzo where we intended to stop for lunch. Coming into the main square an amazing thing happened, there was an explosion of noise, huge bangs of rockets and then pipes and drums, into the main square came giant dancing figures around 4 meters high. Snow White and the 7 dwarves and various religious figures including of course St James. It was La Fiesta del Cristo, a festival that lasts for 3 days each year. The mayor and other dignitaries spoke and in typical Spanish style there was much festivity. We certainly couldn’t go on the 18km we had intended we would have to stop here and join in the fun in this interesting little town. To Ken the pipes are of particular interest. They are Galacian Pipes which are peculiar to this North Western part of Spain. They have a mouth piece, a chanter and most have only one drone although a few have a second which lies over the players arm. They were accompanied by side drums and tambourines. Interesting all the players were young often children of around 10. It is wonderful when you just fall on something like this so here we are in the Hotel San Franscisco. In true Spanish style everything went quite around 2 so joining the Spanish we also had a sleep but then at 5pm the party continued.
Today's ride: 38 km (24 miles)
Total: 2,549 km (1,583 miles)
| Rate this entry's writing | Heart | 1 |
| Comment on this entry | Comment | 0 |