Day 23: Gijón-Aviles-Foncubierta

October 4, 2022. We were sad to leave the city of Gijon. Such a beautiful city, yet at the same time with an industrial edge to it, and not known outside of Spain. It has some of the same charms as San Sebastian with a long elegant promenade frequented by residents in the late afternoon and evening before the sun goes down. But distinct from San Sebastian is that it is city of families and working people, with no evidence of overwhelming resort properties.

In chatting with other pilgrims, we chose to bus our way out of Gijon to Aviles and restart our trek there. We heard reports of the entire distance being dominated by grimy industrial areas. So this morning we got up early and walked 7 minutes to the bus station, where buses leave every 20 minutes to Aviles. They are clean, on time and everything is very organized. Unlike the US, the bus system is designed to be easily and effectively used by everyone and so there are people of all ages, espeically students and retired people on the bus. Before the bus left we caught breakfast at the bar next to the station, a rather elegant place.

The bus left on the minute and was soon on the freeway to Aviles. I noticed the absence of semi trucks, large pickup trucks, and loud motorcycles. No weaving in and out of traffic in crazy one-upsmanship that is so common on American highways. Our trip cost $3 per person. Once we arrived, we consulted our map, and were pleased to be only two blocks from where the official Camino route passes through Aviles, and we were on our way.

We climbed out of the city on a winding road. Aviles had a blue collar feel to it with factories, and less up to the minute cars and house repairs. Many children were dressed in uniform going to school, sometimes on school buses that are not like the yellow crates used for American children.

We came to an interesting looking chapel where and an elder was sitting in front. I asked him about it and learned that the senior housing and chapel were part of a religious organization, so we decided to see if we could get our Camino passports stamped. Just then, we turned around and notice nuns getting ready to take off in a van so we approached them to learn more and also, to have a chance to speak with them. The darker complected woman was very outgoing and I asked if she was Dominican, but no, she was from Mozambique! Yes we could get stamps inside the convent.

We continued on up into the suburbs outside of Aviles, eventually passing through a sleepy seaside town, then instensely urbanized suburb with highrises, and then into agricultural land up in the hills. There were no towns so we took breaks with the food that we were carrying.

We had trouble with directions at a crossroads. My map said go right, but the painted sign on the road said go left. I let the German woman who happened to arrive at the same time convince me to go left, resulting long walk on a busy highway that was too busy and loosing 2-3 km. At one point we let Google maps try to get us to our hotel but ended up on a road to nowhere blocked by a no tresspassing sign. I was frustrated, but encouraged that we are stronger now. We were not at our energy’s end. We could do the 3-4 more km needed.

We managed to make it safely to the town of Soto where there was a nice hotel restaurant with a Menu of the Day, which we gladly took. Alice had squid cooked in the squid ink and I had pork loin. We were hungry and so to have solved the uncertainty and extra miles. Afterwards we found our hotel, a Rural Hotel in which we are the only guests!

This was not the most scenic day. We are looking forward to peace and quiet and a good night’s rest before tomorrows stage. One highlight: we have less than 300 km to go.