Let us not be overwhelmed by the distress of the present time. Let us instead open our hearts and minds to the great challenges lying before us – respect for human rights in all situations, with special concern for the most vulnerable: children, women and refugees. Pope John Paul II
… and seniors I might add. Pope JPII is a personal hero of mine – I can’t get enough of him. Back to our Camino story now. The photo above was taken coming down about 350 m elevation from Riego to Ponferrada. We were glad we had poles and boots! It was a rigorous decline so we only planned walk about 13 km today. It was getting hot!
We arrived in beautiful Ponferrada pop. 62,000 in the early afternoon. We found the pharmacia for some new bandages for Marie and throat losenges for Dave. Then we explored. We have friends whose son and daughter-in-law live here. What a pleasure it must be living in this UNESCO World Heritage Site.
After touring the castle and a bustling street market to pick up some supplies, we decided to bus it 25 km ahead to Villafranca del Bierzo. Dave’s sore throat was getting worse. We checked into the hippie like 76 bed Ave Fenix private refugio. No social distancing possible here.
After freshening up we went out for a nice pilgrim del dia dinner with wine and then looked around town a bit. It was very peaceful. We called it an early evening since we had a big day coming up tomorrow.
mattersofthemoment 
loved the river and the promenade along side.So there was a death along the trail.Never occurred to me that happens.
cheers.
Kevin
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