Walking through Trabadelo, (pop. 456).The main/only street through Trabadelo extended for nearly a half mile with a mixture of very old, old renovated and ruins residences. Few businesses existed other than albergues, a small grocery store and private rentals like Casa Rurals and the like.A relatively modern, large home with working family garden.A cute house just before leaving the village, note the doll in the dormer.The Camino looked like this as we left town….… until minutes later we walked under the ever-present elevated expressway……. and rejoined the concrete barrier walkway once again.The road/Camino snaked through the mountain pass following the Valcarce river. We crossed the river on bridges like this one over a dozen times in less than a two mile stretch.The Valcarce River was visible below at each crossing.
We reached the Hotel Valcarce complex in time for breakfast. Valcarce appears to be a major truck stop company the has locations on major highways all over Spain. (Sorry about the photo quality, sun was in the wrong place when we arrived.)
The Valcarce complex located just before Portela de Varcarce (pop.37).New discovery for Camino breakfast! Toasted croissants with butter and jam, to go with cafe-con-leche.Entering A Portela de VarcarceThe church in A PortelaWe’re thinking of replacing our driveway pots at home with these two statutes.Two blinks and we were walking out of A Portela de Varcarce. Quarters among pilgrims and vehicles were a bit tight.Tight walking space continued until we reached Ambasmestas, where it didn’t improve, so we had to pay attention. Most of the traffic was “thru” for this hamlet with 46 inhabitants.Hotel Ambasmestas, our accommodation.18th century stone church Nuestra Señora del Carmen of Ambasmestas.Interior of Nuestra Señora del Carmen
We arrived early, as usual, so we explored this small burg, walked through and a half mile beyond it and found it had one bar (no food) and an albergue with a “Hippie” atmosphere and cuisine. (We booked dinner in our hotel for 6 p.m. as that was the earliest food they had available).
So, we hung out at the Hippie place until our room was ready. In the meantime we had OJ and chocolate cake and later went back and had an omelette and wine.
With OJ in hand, we discovered a serene garden area with an opening to a area for meditation and contemplation beside a babbling brook. Jim’s curiosity led him to walk through the opening and was surprised to encounter the two ladies we met in the León Train station 11 days ago. We chatted for a while before they proceeded to finish their walk for the day to Herrerías. They plan to ride horseback tomorrow from Herrerías, up the mountain to O Cebreiro.
One of our pilgrim friends from Louisiana that we met in León 11 days ago.
Needless to say, we spent a quiet afternoon in the hotel doing our usual, had an adequate evening meal at 6:00, then made our preparations for tomorrow’s walk and called it a day.
Jimandi 