An unscheduled rest day. My foot, well heel actually, didn’t miraculously heal overnight despite the magic weeds a fellow peregrino gave me to put on it. I think it might not be any worse so the plan is to tag along in the backpack transport van to the next town and relax for the day. … Continue reading Day 28: Primitivo – A Fonsagrada, 0 kms

It dawned a perfect morning X- that very nasty one mile climb right from the door of the albergue. My left heel was protesting such intense activity so soon in the day so I made sure to take lots of photo stops. The day was clear and looking back over A Mesa the mountains I … Continue reading Day 27: Primitivo – Grandas de Salime, 10 kms?

What a day! The rain never materialized; in fact, the chance fell to 10% and I was regretting not waiting at that other albergue yesterday so I could take on the mountain route today. Then I remembered: there’s this modern convenience called a taxi! So I had my hotel call a cab and I was … Continue reading Day 26: Primitivo – A Mesa, 27.5 kms

The albergue lights came on automatically at 7am and it was still pitch black when I had packed up so I wandered over to the one open bar for a coffee. A Spanish couple that I shared bunk space with in Grados waved me over to join them even though they didn’t speak English and … Continue reading Day 25: Primitivo – Pola de Allande, 29 kms

Today was a drizzly day. Not a bad day, just damp. Not so much as to necessitate putting my hood on and keeping my head down to avoid the rain, but wet enough to keep my poncho on all day. I'd made tons of notes on my walk but decided to tell it all in … Continue reading Day 24: Primitivo – Tineo, 21.1 kms

It was a long night/short sleep last night. My attractive room was stuffy and noisy what with 6 of the 8 beds taken and 4 of those were snoring men. Those other 5 all had set their alarms for 6:30am; needless to say I was awake at 6:30am too. I hung around and had the … Continue reading Day 23: Primitivo – Salas, 25.1 kms

Here I go again! Next up is the Camino Primitivo. This is the Original route, 'cause back in 813 King Alphonse II traveled from Oviedo to Santiago to check out the newly found remains of St. James thereby becoming the first "pilgrim". He also helped found the beginnings of the cathedral there = a camino … Continue reading Day 22: Primitivo – Grado, 26.1 kms

What a beautiful city! Clean, modern, and old at the same time. Belle Époque architecture mixed in with 70's block style buildings, and there's an old town to boot. Sculptures abound, finely dressed people on paseo along the pedestrianized streets and a large central park where everyone goes for ice cream. I'd definitely come back … Continue reading Day 21: Oviedo, Rest Day

A very long, very difficult day. Almost all of it was road walking which really did a number on my shin-splint prone leg. But in the end I persevered and made it to Oviedo! My info had inferred it would be only 32 kms, but as that itself is a significant distance we all decided … Continue reading Day 20: Salvador – Oviedo, 37 kms

Wow! Climbing (and descending) mountains is hard work! We all thought yesterday was to be the hardest stage but today has it in my book. No switchbacks on this camino; if the way goes down, it is straight down! Right out of Pajares I was hit with exactly one mile of knee-breaking descent with stunning … Continue reading Day 19: Salvador- Pola de Lena, 24.8 kms