Today was a good day, I didn’t have any aches and pains and I felt strong. My pack felt light. It was a cloudy day and was drizzling until about midday but that seemed to help.
I had a quick coffee and croissant for breakfast and moved on. I decided to rely on the Camino arrows and only check my app if I thought I was lost. It worked well, the path was well marked.
I saw other pilgrims today, 3 young men from USA who had family in the area. Today was their first day on the Camino and are walking to Santiago. I caught up with them quickly, chatted for a while and then left them behind. They walked slowly.
I saw an 80 year old Korean man who loves to hike in Korea and comes every year to do a week or two of a Camino.
There was another pilgrim ahead of me and I could not catch up, and lost sight of him once I stopped to rest/eat orange.
I also saw a group walking one of the other Caminos going in the opposite direction to cross down to the Camino Primitivo. This takes an additional 3 days.
As I followed the arrows and not the app they led me along a path that was shorter and avoided a 600 metre climb. I thought I was off the Camino path but when I checked with the young Americans they had an app that showed the arrows were correct. My app was wrong.
I saw a family out for a horse ride, each with their own horse, had to move over to let them pass.
The path took me near Asturias airport, I could hear the planes but never saw them. It also started to head back towards the coast.
Lunch today was a pilgrim special, being a weekend no menu del dia was offered.
My hotel is a little upmarket but it was the only one in town with rooms available. It’s peak pilgrim season now, I just wonder where they all are!
The hotel is on the top of a hill overlooking a river and views across the hills. I had to walk up the hill to get here, of course, and tomorrow I will walk down it again.
My after walk G&T comes with pintxos.
About 17km today.
Russ and Jan's Camino 