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Day 34 | 30 September 2025 | Walking the Camino Francés
From Cacabelos to Ambasmestas | 24.4 km 15.2 miles
By now we had settled into a comfortable daily rhythm, leaving our accommodation at 07:00 – compared with the 05:00 starts imposed by the intense 14-day heatwave. That heat had limited our walking to an average of 18 km a day, but with cooler conditions we could now walk up to 27 km.
Leaving Cacabelos, we followed a main road for around four kilometres before turning right onto an uphill track. Our head torches picked out rows of vines in the darkness, and it struck us that, for the first time since leaving the vineyards of La Rioja three weeks earlier, we were once again walking through wine country.
Then came the sunrise – and it was magical.
We stopped to watch as the light revealed how high we had climbed. Below us, vineyards spilled across the valley floor, glowing warm yellow in the early sun beneath a deep blue sky. This was walking the Camino at its very best – simply stunning.
We passed two wine growers harvesting grapes, and later discovered we were now in the El Bierzo wine district, an up-and-coming Spanish region known for elegant red wines and growing international acclaim.
Still walking in the soft light of dawn, we passed a solitary whitewashed house set between two pine trees in the distance. They say it’s all about location – and this house had it.
The house and its surrounding vineyards belong to a small family winery, Cantariña, Vinos de Familia
Later, we passed through the large town of Villafranca del Bierzo. From there, our route mostly followed a main road alongside the fast-flowing River Valcarce all the way to Ambasmestas. We stopped for coffee in the afternoon in the tiny hamlet of Pereje.
