Day 22: Villaviciosa to Gijón

October 3, 2022

Last night, as I sat typing the yesterday days’s post in the closed cafeteria of Hotel de España, the room was filled with family sounds. Three generations were gathered around a board game laughing, cajoling and enjoying each other’s company. Earlier, when I asked if I could use the table to write I received an abrupt ”no, we are not open” from the grandmother, but the young mother understood I was not looking to be served or to invade their Sunday night family time, and invited me to use one of the tables. As I was writing, I realized, this classic older hotel is a family business, and all three generations participate in it. An I realized that the family businesses are still the majority of businesses in northern Spain, something I really respect and enjoy.

This morning we arose before dawn as always. The packing is quick and automatic now. We know where everything goes. We know which toes need to be taped, which blisters treated in preparation of the day. We dropped our heavy set of keys and stepped onto the wet, recently washed cobblestones. No, it had not been raining, but they clean the pedestrian walkways every night. We turned left to follow the Camino that ran right in front of our hotel down to the main church in Villaviciosa, and then turning south along a small river to exit the city. Light returned. We turned off the main road into the countryside.

Soon we came to an important monument on the Camino, the chapel of San Blas in Casquita. Here the Camino Primitivo splits off the the South and the Camino del Norte continues west and north to Gijon. We met a German and a Swiss pilgrim there who were stamping their camino passport there ahead of us.

We continued on mildly undulating agricultural dirt roads amongst farms with cattle. The morning sounds of tractors and birds surrounded us. It looked like another perfect day.

We doubled back along a freeway to reconnect with another variation of the Camino and then started directly into a steep climb up rocky paths toward the summit at 450 meters. We took breaks going up due to the vigorous climb. Several times we traded resting spots and passed or were passed by hikers we recognized. At the top we looked for a rest spot and found a patch of steeply pitched dry asphalt to sit on. After a couple of oranges we were off again, down the steep hill.

Done with the big hill, we started on moderate sized hill, climbing to 250 m. Once again the rocky, muddy, narrow path that eventually finds sunshine and flattens out. Immediately we saw a sign for a tiny bar restaurant and headed in. Alice was low on water and so we ordered some coffee and asked for some water. I chatted up the elder proprietor, and she turned out to be 83 years old and had been running the place most of her life. There were no family members willing to take over, so she continues on as long as she can.

As we left the tiny bar restaurant in Curvecillu, we immediately saw the valley and the city of Gijo open up. We were in the final stretch.

We stopped at a restaurant as we neared the industrial suburbs of the city. Restaurant Curuxa ( barn owl) is a lovely restaurant with outdoor seating al fresco and a menu of the day. We were very happy to get the three course meal, a bottle of wine, dessert , and coffee for 11.50 Euros per person, which is hard to understand given that Asturias has been hit by inflation also. After our dinner, the waiter called at tax and we went the final 9 km through industrial sections by taxi. Our hotel is a renovated 1904 building that had been bombed in the Civil War , but now with a beautifully renovated second floor. Only 6 rooms. Such a find. After taking care of laundry and cell phone SIM card needs I went out for some street photography.