19. Molinaseca to Villafranca del Bierzo 26/7/12

The hostal check out time was midday so I decided that I would leave late and make use of my nice room to sleep in.  At the albergues they like you to leave by 8am.   I slept till 8.30am and found a note under my door from Song. He'd left at 5.30am!

I went out for a walk around the town and took some photos - and then sat and had coffee, cigs and little pastries while watching the locals and pilgrims pass through.  Also bought some fruit for the journey that day which was only going to be 30km. 

Ready to leave - this is the front door of the hostal

I took this photo for Mallie to show her that she can see cats when she does the Camino 

(I think these ones had come out to say goodbye to me)

It had been a really sunny morning but by the time I got going about 1pm it started to cloud over and then started drizzling. Following Jeff's advice (not to cycle when it's raining) I stopped at a small bar for half an hour or so until it stopped. 

They gave me three of these yummy things to have with my clara -

each toothpick had two olives, an anchovy and a pepper thingee on it

The scenery was lovely and I passed through little villages and through some country side - and got lost for a while leaving one big town or city.

At one point I couldn't find the yellow arrows but up ahead I saw a cyclists waving to me so I followed him as he'd found an arrow.  After cycling over some bumpy ground we got to a little village so stopped for a beer. He was from Norway. 

I finally got to the place I was going at about 5.30pm and I'd only done 30kms!  Song was in the plaza when I arrived and he instantly ordered me a clara and a plate of mussels in salsa to share and told me he'd already organized the dinner. 

I went off to find accommodation but the albergue I wanted to stay at was full, and so was the main municipal albergue.  I then found another albergue which seemed okay on arrival (I was just thankful to have somewhere to stay by then) but it really was a bit of a shithole - well it was definitely the worse one I've stayed at. My dorm room was dirty, I had no pillow case on the dirty pillow - my sheet was dirty and there was hardly any space between the bunk beds.  

I noticed they opened up another dorm room for some cyclists that arrived later - and it looked much cleaner with more space between the beds. I nearly asked to move into their room but thought I'd just stay where I was.   I saw those cyclists the next night and they were saying what a terrible place it was as they all got bed bug bites - so I'm pleased I didn't move.  

Dinner was delicious that night.  Song had already talked to the chef in the afternoon and asked about his best dish - but even though it wasn't on the menu the chef prepared it and put it in the oven as it took a few hours to cook.  It was lamb and it was so tender. 

Paletilla de Cordero

The oven the lamb had been cooked in

We went back out onto the plaza for coffee and it was raining but we sat under the cover.  Just when I'd finished the coffee the rain stopped and I wandered back to the albergue as the doors locked at 11pm.