The Albergue at El Acebo is the best we have scene on the Camino. The dinner and sunset were both great.

Unfortunately we were staying at their hostel a quarter mile UP the road; a place that was now playing second fiddle to the Albergue and had not been loved on for a while. Room was ok, but first floor had all of the ambiance of a warehouse.

We headed out before sunrise with the first morning light heading to Ponferrada which was visible from our mountain perch. Sunrise in the mountains is a phased event. You may not see the sun, but you see where it has been able to sneak through.

The added sunlight could not have come sooner. The over 1800 foot descent into Ponferrada turned rocky and steep.

The problem with having a view of your destination is that you have a false sense that you are close to arriving. We walked for close to six hours under that impression. One distraction was the town of Molinaseca, touted as one of the prettiest towns in all of Spain ( according to the Chamber of Commerce). And it is! But the highlight was meeting a young Spaniard who introduced himself and stuck up a conversation. He was soon joined by his wife and infant child and you could tell they were truly proud of their town. They thanked us for visiting them and we were off to Ponferrada which still looked so close.

Finally we were at the edge of town and made our way to the city center and the Castillo de Los Templarios.

Once at the castle our accommodations would be near by. With some help from google we arrived at our hostel, AFTER another 1 1/4 miles of walking. How could I have done this a second time! Guess I am just good at it. So after cleaning up and washing clothes, we did what pilgrims through out the ages have done, we took a taxi back to the castle. We needed to kill time as the castle would open for another hour, and as luck would have it, we stumbled upon a Tex-Mex restaurant.

Becky had done enough walking so she turned me loose to do the castle on my own.

We soon cabbed it back for the night and found a nice treat in the neighborhood.

The advantage of being so far out was we had a jump on the next morning. Once again we were walking before sunrise and seeing the city come to life.

Once ahead of the crowd, we were engulfed by a cloud of pilgrims when we had to pause at a street crossing. I counted at least 15 and we lagged behind to let the smoke clear.

The sun made its appearance and soon after we cleared the city.

We were again in wine country, old and new.

As we approached Cacabelos we pass a milestone. Less than 200 kilometers to Santiago. 600 behind us!

So after a relatively easy day of walking, we are heading out to dinner now so more to come on Cacabelos.