Via Lemovicensis: Through El Bierzo

This morning I was up and out by 7 AM. The year was relatively cool, and the skies were overcast. Again, they were predicting thunderstorms for the afternoon.

Within minutes, I crossed the bridge over the Río Sil and was looking for breakfast. The Camino took me through a beautiful riverside park which, however, didn’t really have anything resembling a café.

The park was up above the river. The path was lined with trees and benches on my left, while to my right the river flowed below. It was gorgeous in the early morning light.

I often talk about Rule 1 of the Camino: all distances are lies. Today is an amazing case in point. This morning I looked at three different guidebooks and resources. Depending on which one you believe, today’s distance is 22.9 km, 24.4 km, or 28.5 km. That’s a pretty substantial difference – the difference between a short, easy day and a relatively long one.

Three years ago, I recorded 26.0 km for this stage. Let’s see what happens today.

The Camino continued to follow the river, but the park proper ended at about 7:15, to be replaced by a series of soccer practice fields and then, after passing under a freeway, a factory that has been turned into a museum.

Then, suddenly, the Camino left the river and became a gravel path climbing steeply up a hill into the sunrise. I was sweating at the top, so off came the fleece. 

The Camino turned down a broad, tree-lined avenue. There were few buildings along it, just grassy lots, with the exception of one major building on the right hand side set back perhaps 50 meters from the street. It appeared to be a museum or a cultural center of some kind.

The sidewalk was stone. It was so uneven and difficult to walk on that I elected to walk on the avenue instead. At no point I see a car here.

The way smoothly transitioned into the suburb of Compostilla, and soon there were houses and commercial buildings. Camino actually went through one of these buildings, next to a bar that was sadly closed.

This brought me to the (locked) church of Santa María de Compostilla. It is said that in the middle ages pilgrims who were too ill or injured to continue to Santiago may receive the indulgence is here. These days, you can get a type of compostela certificate here for the same reasons.

By 7:35, the Camino took me through a residential neighbourhood. Here, Erik from Colorado caught up with me, and we walked together and talked.

We had a great conversation as the urban fabric gradually gave way to scrubland. The road continued to be asphalt.

At we 7:50 passed between a cemetery and the first of the El Bierzo vineyards as we entered the town of Columbrianos. Here, we ran into a young Spanish woman who is walking her first day on Camino.

A few minutes later, we found our first open café of the day. Erik and I stopped in for breakfast. While we were there, we saw numerous pilgrim friends pass by. Julie even popped in for a brief hello. I haven’t seen her since we walked out of León together.

It was 8:40 by the time Erik and I left. 

The way out of the village was an asphalt road. Both sides of the road featured open fields and small farms. The houses were not what I would call traditional Spanish architecture; many of them seemed to be built out of concrete blocks.

The route became more and more rural, with larger farms. Many of the farm houses had little vegetable plots beside them. I even saw a tiny little vineyard.

The density of buildings increased slightly, and a sign welcomed us into the village of Fuentasnuevas at about 9:05. Here, Erik and I were joined by Dale from Australia. I’ve been seeing the two of them off and  on since day one in Spain.

I lost both of them when I walked in to visit the village church of the Assumption.

The retablo in the sanctuary is a beautiful Baroque piece. Unlike many I’ve seen, which are just an un differentiated wall of gold, it is painted in beautiful colors (and then gilded, of course). A truly inspiring piece of sacred art.

The retablo in the baptismal chapel is similarly painted, I suspect by the same artist. They’re both really remarkable. The little chapel has a dome featuring a painting of the last supper.

I prayed here for a bit before moving on alone.

I had to detour around some roadwork at the end of the village. The asphalt road continued past hayfields, with their round bales dotting the field. Even though it wasn’t yet 9:30, it was already warm and muggy. 

Just past 9:30, the Camino took me down the major commercial avenue of the suburb of of Camponaraya. Much of the housing I saw here was modern blocks of flats, though there were some older style houses and commercial buildings towards the center.

It’s Sunday, so everything was closed. I did however stop in the very modern church of San Ildefonso to pray. This church was unlike almost any other Spanish church I’ve seen; it would be perfectly at home in suburban America.

I stopped into a café on the way out of town for some Kas Limón and ran into Julie and then Frederick from Denmark. There was an amazing conversation all about blisters. Fortunately, I rarely get them and had little to contribute.

After this, I walked with Julie for the rest of today’s walk. We had the sort of far-ranging discussions that only seem to happen on pilgrimage.

Within fifteen minutes, we had left the town on the dirt path through pine trees past a large commercial bodega. We crossed a long stone bridge over a large highway and found ourselves walking on gravel through scrubland and vineyards.

Around 10:40, the gravel road entered a forest. We wound through there for a while, and passed by the adorable scene of a big, goofy dog splashing in a stream.

By 10:55, we had left the forest entirely and were walking on gravel through vineyards.

At 11:10, the terrain took on a distinctly urban feel as we entered the town of Cacabelos. We stopped for lunch, and ended up having a long lunch and a long conversation about Francine. We didn’t leave until past 12:30.

We crossed the bridge over the Rio Cúa, a wide and placid river, on our way out of town. we passed a few more houses before being out in the vineyards on a sidewalk next to a highway.

Starting in about 1:05, we walked past the very quaint village of Pieros which seemed an anachronism next to the highway.

We left the highway at about 1:15 for a asphalt and then gravel road through the vineyards.

At about 1:35, we walked through the whimsical village of Valtuille. There were numerous fun and silly statues and art pieces here.

And then it was a dirt road through the forest again. Once we left the woods, we passed by rolling hills full of green vineyards, with the mountains framing them in the background. It was absolutely gorgeous, almost like a 19th century painting of the countryside.

In one of these fantastic landscapes, we passed what is probably the most photographed house on the whole of the Camino Francés. This is a white house on a hill in the middle of a vineyard shaded by massive trees. It really does look like a fantasy painting.

As we got closer to the town, the views of the vineyards in the valley to our left somehow became even more beautiful. To our right, meanwhile it was uphill into mostly brush and trees with the occasional small vineyard. 

At about 2:15 the gravel ended, and we were walking on asphalt. We were now in the outer edges of the town, passing large suburban homes and smaller, older houses.

The road ran along the top of a ridge, and the land on either side of us sloped down steeply into valleys, covered in vineyards.

As befits the hilly terrain, the town of Villafranca del Bierzo is in a deep valley, although over the centuries it has grown up the hillsides. You don’t actually see the town until you’re practically on top of it.

We arrived there right about at 2:30. In front of the castle – of course there’s a castle – Julie and I parted, she to her albergue and me to mine.

Within just a few moments I had found mine in an old monastery, a place I stayed three years ago. My tracker read 26.5 km.

After the usual pilgrim chores, I hung out with Erik, Frederick from Denmark, and the Texas Twins Alex and Abby.

Since the kitchen at the bar wasn’t going to open for a while, I persuaded them to come with me to visit the church of Santa María de Cluny. This is an amazing sacred space that immediately stops your restless brain and calms you for prayer. It’s a place of great beauty and majesty.

Here I lit a candle for Francine at the altar of the Holy Family and prayed for her.

Erik, Frederick, and I finally got our dinner at 6 PM, and in typical Spanish fashion it lasted until nearly 8 PM. We started our dinner outside on the terrace, but then a fantastic thunderstorm poured buckets of rain, so we quickly moved inside for the remainder.

Date: 14 June 2026

Place: Villafranca del Bierzo 

Today started: Ponferrada 

Today’s Photos!