Rest Days and closure to this Camino

Oviedo is a big city on hills, too much walking to enjoy with a sore leg so we visited the Cathedral second in importance to Santiago.  

Spent the night and caught a bus to Lugo Sunday morning.  Even though the Camino goes straight to Lugo from Oviedo ( ten days walk) it is so remote there are no highways for a bus to travel directly so the bus first goes over a big mountain range  to the south east to Leon then turns west to Lugo.

We had walked through Leon on the Camino France's in 2010 going west to Santiago so the bus ride west to Lugo really brought back a lot of memories. We started seeing a line of "pilgrims", shell signs and yellow arrows every so often along the highway or up on hills.  We'd see the name of a town coming up and remember where we had stayed or what the trail was like or who we had met or already had said goodbye too as the injured were peeling off by that time.

Gaudi building in Astorga passing through on bus

Lugo is bigger than Anaheim but the walled city is smaller than Disyneyland and fairly flat although it sits on top of a hill.  Perfect for a day and a half of rest and entertainment.

We hop (limp) off the bus and find we are less than a block from one of the 10 gates that let you into the walled city.   Walking in through the gate we see everyone dressed in Roman costumes and realize we are in the middle of a super crowded  festival.  "Arde Lucus" celebrating the founding of the town in 13 BC by Augustus Ceasar.

With the help of a local really nice older women who had offered us a sit at their table on the square, we were able to get a room in a ****hotel just around the corner from the main square.   

We wanted to walked the wall early in the morning trying to beat the heat but by the time we leisurely had coffee the cool fog was already lifting.  Afterward we spent the day taking in a couple museos, the Cathedral and trying to find shade as it was near 90 degrees .   

Neither of us make very good tourists we felt a little like orphans not quite fitting in. Not locals, not tourists and no longer pilgrims.  All our friends were days behind as we had taken the bus and those pilgrims we'd run into we'd have to explain we were no longer walking.   Weird feeling but it was nice to have a couple days to adjust that we are on our way to Madrid airport on Alsa Supra in the fog

thankful we got as far as Villaviciosa near where the Primitivo begins.

438 km or 276 miles of walking from Irun.

 

Walking Day 18 Colunga to Villaviciosa

18.5 km. 4:44 hrs.  438m elevation gain with max elevation at 173m.

 

I have to say this was the quietest walk we have had.  We left our less than desirable Hotel at 7:30 without coffee or toast and nothing available anywhere on our walk till about10:30 when a nice country hotel which was not open had a vending machine and water available for Pilgrims.  There were actually three of us that stopped there, all getting pasta salad from the machine.

The Bar next door last night was rocking with one man singing as loud as possible till 4 am.  It didn't bother me but Al was awake due to a resurgence of left leg pain and so that just added to the inability to sleep.

We were only into the walk a few Km when Al expressed that this might just be his last walking day.  When I realized it might be so was when I ended up being ahead of him.  If you think of the pictures they always have Al's back about 25 yards ahead of me. I knew he was in trouble when I got ahead going "uphill".

So we tried to appreciate today's walk

through the woods and think of all the great miles we have enjoyed together and all the truly terrific people we have spent time with and the scenic views we have captured.

Of course I'm disappointed we didn't get to finish by doing the Primitivo route but doing the Camino Norte to the cut off for the Primitivo was awesome.  It has been a joy to spend this time with Al who is the best Pilgrim ever.  

So the final stats:  recorded by Strava

437.8 km or 276 miles in 18 walking days and 2 rest days.  

Two towns on the Primitivo that I really wanted to see are Oviedo and Lugo so that's where we are headed by Alsa bus. So I guess this ends the blog.  

Walking Day 17 - Ribadesella to Colunga

Walking Day 17. - Ribadesella to Colunga, 21.5k - 435m Ascent - max elev 92 m

Left the hotel after breakfast at 0820 and who did we see?  The girls from Prague.  Definitely fate as they were walking back to take a bus to Bilboa and a flight home.  Their 2 weeks were ending. So we exchanged hugs and bid farewell.

Ribadesella is theoretically the mid point of the walk and as they say down hill from here, but in our case it is uphill,  After today the real climb starts.

Today's walk was the last along the coast if we do the Primitivo as planned.  We cut the walk 10k short to allow our injuries some rest.  As I write this blog I am not sure it helped as both of us feel the continuing pa

Funny thing was we were at a bar after our showers and met 2 other pilgrims still walking, both in pain,  One 20 something Italian girl, and 1 older German guy that separately decided to take the bus the next 10k.

It was a great walk across three beaches and away from busy roads.  We found a bar in Barre around 1100 for our 1st break meeting some bikers from the U.S. Our 2nd stop gave JL a chance to practice some more hydro-therapy.

N ash

Colunga is a small town w many bars and restaurants.  Close to the A-8 freeway, so maybe a pit stop location.  Not much else to say.

Rest Day 2 / Ribadesella

We were both ready for a day off our feet and this is a comfy fairly flat town to take a rest day.  This would be a great place to spend a week or two just adventuring. They hold an international white water kayak event here and there are numerous paddling and caving trips, but for us a rest day.

Of course after a late breakfast at the Hotel we "walked" to Tito Bustillo caves but since we didn't have reservations we could only go to the museum.  Oh well it was fascinating.  The caves were found in 1968 by a bunch of young adventurers repelling down a sink hole only to find Paleolithic art works extremely well preserved.  Thought to be the oldest in Europe.

Since we had already crossed the river we decided to go to the beach.

The beach of Santa Marina, also known as “the beach of the Picos de Europa” because a mere 35 km separate it from the National Park of Picos de Europa.    

What a beautiful row of villas.   Al enjoyed a little hydro therapy for his swollen and painful left shin.  Really delightful cold water soak for my feet also.  

Next a little lunch.  A new version of Al's one eyes.  Delisioso!

 

A nap and a short walk up hill to see the second beach looking east.

 

Finally had to try the regional Sidre (hard cider).  Very sour but cool method of serving it, poured from an out stretched hand overhead into a glass.  Amazing to watch when done correctly.  Boy is it sour!

Decision made to walk tomorrow.  One step at a time.

Walking Day 16 - Celorio to Ribadesella

Walking Day 16 - Celorio to Ribadesella, 27.1k  - 413m ascent

We left the hotel at 0730 backtracking a little to the beach and finding GR - E9 along with the yellow arrow and followed the longer coastline path.

Today was supposed to have only 150m of ascent, but as we have learned, the guide books lie.  We found coffee at 1000 in Naves and were surprised to see Marie Teresa from Rome walk in as we were leaving the bar.  The bar had no real food so we ate our nuts and walked on.

Inland we could see the peakies, a reminder of what is to come.

We had little road walking but crossed under the freeway twice and walked along train track for sometime. 

Walking into Nueva we found lunch and rested our tiring feet.  My shin splint or more likely tendinitis began to flair again as JL's heels began talking to her.  More friends passed by and it was a nice feeling to recognize fellow pilgrims we last saw in Bilboa.

The final 10.6k into Ribadesella seemed to take forever.  We joke as to how far it is to go.  It is always 4.9k or just a little more than an hour.  About 2k before we arrived JL had to stop. 

Boots came off and we rested.  As far as walking goes it was an easy day, but we are injured and struggling.

We found Ribadesella, the Hotel Marina, filled with 50+ high school kids, and have decided to take a rest day in this beach community.

Walking Day 15 Buelna to Celorio

24.7 km. 6.3 hrs.  354 elevation gain and max elevation 152m

I think today was the most beautiful day so far.  It was in the 50s when we started out this morning but although the sky looked threatening we had no rain.  

All day we walked up and down hills on various tracks and dirt/ gravel paths with very little on roads.  

Most of the time we could see the Sierra Del Cuera mountain range that is very close to the shore and runs parallel to the Camino. 

It still amazes me that you can see a mount way ahead of you and by mid afternoon it can be way behind you and several towns away if you just keep walking.

Looking back on a mount we were on earlier in the day.  We had many ocean views and walks near the cliffs.

Al's leg did not bother him today although it is still a little swollen.  I wish I could report similar improvement in my heels but they are asking for a time out !

I'm delighted to not have any blisters and no complaints about my boots or back or   knees.  The heels have been getting worse after I  stop walking at night, then they feel like they are on fire, same as  the first Camino.  But the fix is stop walking and I'm not ready to do that yet.

To recap a little we started in the Basque provencia , walked through Cantabria and today have entered the Asturias.

We have walked 370 km  or 230 miles so we are pretty much on our avg. of 15 miles per day.  Al says by tomorrow night we could be half way.  Right now I'm thinking we may not make it.  Hate to be a pessimist but some of the next days are really high and long .  Maybe I can get on one of those cool little donkeys I've fallen in love with.

All is well and enjoying a three star Hotel tonight.