5th stage: Molinaseca - Villafranca del Bierzo (32 km)

A long but flat stage followed the very mountainous one the day before. Nevertheless our group had to suffer some losses henceforth because of the recent body stress. First one was Pascal, who had problems with his legs and had to stay in the bigger city Ponferrada we arrived after 2 hours of walking. After a short farewell and some photos of the famous Templar castle, we went on. I was lucky with the decision to buy a bandage for my knee, because it started hurting again after a while. At noon the pain became unbearable in both knees, so I had to take a break for lunch alone in Camponaraya, while Fran, who was walking with me went on. Later it got better with walking and I made my way through the beautiful and hilly wine region of Bierzo. In Valtuille de Arriba I met Hong San again and we walked together the last 4 km to "Little Santiago", respectively Villarfranca del Bierzo. In the pilgrim's hostel we made another acquaintanceship. I got talking to a young Mexican sculptor, who noticed my old Praktica MTL3, because he had an analog SLR camera as well. The time went by very fast as we talked about camera technology, had dinner all together and once again I forgot about my knee problems.