September 28, 2022. We arose very rested from very comfortable beds in a very discounted luxury hotel, which we couldn’t pass up at 53 Euro per night. But we did not wait around for their late breakfast, rather walking along the waterfront to a bar frequented by fishermen. There, our morning shot of espresso and the warm tortilla española hit the spot and got us out on the road just as it started to get light. As always, when leaving a port town, the exit is going to be up hill.
As we walked up the gently curving road through fields of cows we ran into a young German woman, Maggie, and enjoyed her company for a few miles. It was fun to hear her struggle to keep a balance between work and other aspects of life, and so glad for what the Camino means to her. Meeting so many Germans has encouraged me to change my Duolingo study language to German, and it has been fun to find the sleeping German neurons come back to life 🙂
As we climbed, curved and descended through numerous little hamlets we marveled that the weather has improved. The rain has passed and now we could walk without raincoats, pack covers and ponchos. Our boots were dry! Also, the plants and flowers were exuberant in their smells — citrus, jasmine, eucalyptus, rosemary and mint competed for our olfactory appreciation. And the European robin with its sweet call is never far from us.
We continued on through Serdio, Peña, Pesues and Unquera. In Pesues we stopped for a big cafe con leche and I found a blister on my toe. It had felt to me like a piece of stick in the shoe, but it was my first blister. I popped it with a sterile pin and applied a special band aid. As we left Pesues we saw 3 men moving a calf in a wheelbarrow, and it turned out it had just been born and they were moving it to a different location. In Unquera we stopped into a pharmacy to refill our supply our blister treatment patches.
After an hour or so of walking into the Asturias province, we arrived at the town of Colombres, were we hoped to find a restaurant for the late lunch period, but instead found many restaurants closed on Wednesdays. As our hunger increased, we decided to stop at a tiny railway station that seemed to be both a private home and a functioning train depot.
After Colombres, we only had 2 or 3 kilometer to get to a potential final distination. But we could find nothing that was still available, so we found a nice little apartment about 2 km back in Peral. We had decided to experiment with holding off on reserving a place, but found that there is not guarantee of any place open in a tiny town. Thankfully we have food and a dry place to stay.
Glad to see that you are doing good for care, though expected nothing less. Impressed by your problem solving around routes, food and lodging.
Accessed your blog for first time tonight. What a contrast between our Road Scholar trip to central European capitals and your “Camino”. So admire your adventurous journey, and glad that you are well.
Did you know that Greg fell biking and has a tibia needing surgical repair?
Thanks for your comment and I’m glad you had a good trip. We are meeting some Czech pilgrims here. I’ve heard from Greg about his accident and sad about that.