isobelmtl

It really is. The parish of St Pius turned it into an alberge. There was even heat at night and a good thing too as it was only 4 degrees and very misty when we awoke to set off to our next stop

It is a new alberge run by the provincial govt. they post their strict rules about no smoking or drinking on pain of being “ thrown away” by the manager and being barred from any public alberge.

We were all well behaved and set off to descend into the river valley

I would not like to go down that in wet weather. It seems they used it to transport various goods but what animal could go up or down the steep grade is a mystery to me.

With wonderful views of the river and little hamlets. After we crossed over to the other bank it was time to start climbing!

Covered with grape vines. The trail was so faint we sometimes wondered if we had missed the way. However we emerged onto a road and were invited into a magnificent winery and given a complementary glass of wine. Most of the vineyards around this area are small plots of land handed down from generation to generation. This company buys up small lots and makes “ Toman” wine.

We had a bit of road walking which is not so pleasant but we soon arrived at Chantada, a thriving little town that is a centre of agricultural trade.

So…. We came to a momentous decision! We are going to get on a bus and advance a little faster. Cheating! But, we don’t case.

With our decision!