A beautiful day for walking

Hello, everyone.
Today, for the first time in a while, we had mostly sunshine overhead. It started out cool and never got hot.
We got to Luarca,  port town, at nearly noon, then kept on until Villapedre. This is a smallish village with a beach. We found 2 hotels (one is a Casa Rural) and 2 restaurants here.
Tonight we have a room in the Hotel Pinar, on a hill just 100 meters from the restaurants here.
(It's important to accept what comes on the pilgrimage. Even the struggle to get through mud and rain works out overall. If we hadn't missed our turn yesterday we wouldn't have stayed at Hotel Canero, and sleeping there set us up to stop here for the night. Which is lovely. And a short day was welcome.) 

 This is the harbor at Luarca. They have a light tower at the entrance that looks like a rocket ship. The town is very hilly and full of cobblestone streets.

Our room tonight

Ultreia. 

Cañero, a lovely spot with a beach

Hello, everyone.
Tonight, after accidentally walking 6 km too far, we are staying at the friendly and cozy Hotel Canero. It is in the tiny village of Cañero, and if it weren't raining we would go down to the beach.
Unfortunately the day began with rain and has kept it up most of the day. We didn't realize what the weather would likly be when we left from Soto la Luiña this morning, so we headed up to the scenic mountain route to our day's destination. Famous last words as they say! We found many low muddy spots on the trail, and then it took off through some cow pastures. The trail, being the lowest spot around, was a running stream. But eventually we came down, missed the turn to our destination, and ended up here instead. But this is a delightful place!
These are two of the items in the menu del dia for today.

 Homemade chicken noodle soup was the soup of the day. Eat your hearts out, Campbells!

This was the dessert, a house made fresh cheese sprinkled with sugar--it's a Spanish thing I guess--and drizzled with honey. I forgot to photograph the little peppers stuffed with fish and accompanied by potatoes. We ate them too fast for pictures.
Ultreia.

Soto la luiña

Hello everyone.
This is just a brief post today. We're at the Bar Ecu, eating pinxtos and drinking, while the clothes dryer runs. No time foi pictures to upload!
Today we walked 29 km with many ups and downs. There were a lot of muddy patches and our hiking poles got a workout! I had to pre rinse our pant legs before putting them in the wash load, they were just caked.
Tomorrow we will head towards head towards Cadavedo. There are 2 routes, a highway one (not all on highways, lots of ups and downs, but lots of services) and a mountain one (no services for about 12 miles, but fewer ups and downs and much less walking at the edge of a national highway. Think the old US highways for this. Not expressways. Not little things that approximate farm to market roads without shoulders.
It's almost time for the dryer to finish.
Ultreia.

San Martin de Laspra, on a hilltop

Hello, everyone.
Yesterday we visited the Museum of Fine Arts in Oviedo. It is centered on Astorga-connected artists and most of the exhibited works are paintings from around the turn of the last century. Some were a little bit pointillist, and the actual subjects were more visible from across the gallery. It seems to shut out a lot of potential buyers whose houses don't have 15 foot sight lines to view the paintings. IMHO.
Today, after leaving our room in the Pension Fidalgo, we visited the Archeological Museum of Astorga.
(Both of these museums are very close to the Cathedral.)
We really enjoyed our visit. There are a LOT of caves with prehistoric material in Astorga, with remains and artifacts over a very long period. Neanderthal man left a lot of stuff behind here, and modern man also has been in Iberia for a very long time.
The museum also covers the hill fort culture, Roman era things, the middle ages with emphasis on Astorga, and some photos of Covadonga from the last century.

Retablo of the Cathedral in Astorga. (Other Oviedo pictures are all in the regular camera.)

Tomorrow we may get as far as Soto la Luiña. With bonus grocry buying in Muros de Nalon, which is about 2/3 of the way there. Soto is at the start of a stretch with few or no services, they say, so we have to line up food for the next day before getting there. Sardines and crackers, here we come.
Ultreia.

New Food Discovery: Cachopo

Hello everyone.
The other day, in Columbres, the albergue served a supper to us. The first course--all pilgrim meals come in courses for some reason--was a tomato pasta with chicken in it for the meat. I had never had chicken pasta, but it was edible. Bland but edible. The second course was a breaded meat thing with cheese in the middle. I had never seen it before.  But here it is on the promo things on the wall of a restaurant.

I guess it's better when fresh-made. I wasn't thrilled with it at first meeting, but it might have been freezer-fast-food.
Tonight we had natural cidre, complete with showman-like pours, and some bread and a tabla (tray) of Asturian cheeses. There was a slab of membrillo (probably quince paste) on the tray, too. Let me tell y'all, quince paste (or fig paste) is da bomb when combined with cheese and a bit of bread. Angels sing about this. Really.
We're staying in Oviedo for two nights. Already visited the Cathedral and the room of relics, which includes the Holy Sudario.  (There doesn't appear to be a word for sudario in English. This is the cloth that was laid over the head of Jesus when He laid in the tomb. (Y'all will remember that the Gospel states that the cloth from  His head, called in Spanish the sudario, was laid separately and folded when the apostles ran to the tomb. (Jesus was a good son, He folded up His bedding when He got up!)
I can't express what a priviledge it was to be mere feet away from this sacred bit of cloth. Words just aren't up to it.
It's bed time, so I will close this.
Ultreia.

Just a brief note

Hello everyone.
We stayed in Pension Paseo Real in Cangas de Onis last night. Nice bed. Our private bath was across the hall, but spotless, and we had a key for its door.
Now in Oviedo, will try to make a bigger post later.
Ultreia

Last night bad wifi, tonight in Llanes

Hello, everyone.
Last night we were in Columbres, a village not directly on the coast. The weather reflects the nearness of the Cantabrian Sea, and it was doing the chilly-drizzle thing when we arrived at the edge of town. We walked around 28 kilometers yesterday. In Columbres we found Bar Mexicano. The bar is run by several Mexican fellows from Michoacan, one of tbe southern states of Mexico.
Today we walked a smaller distance, but part of it was on the GR trail E9, along the coast. Many cows, many goats, some sheep. I saw wild chamomile growing. And we have seen the home of the famous Bufone, a natural geyser like explosion of the sea through a natural tunnel in the midst of grass and rocks. We were looking at it with a friendly group of young Spaniards. One of the gals told us that the bufones can be dangerous in the afternoon when they get wild and throw salt water out of the mouth of the tunnel. It was late morning so the bufone wss noisy but the water wasn't actually splashing out.

One of the trails we were on today. Some of the GR trails don't seem to be up to date on trail maintenance. We had to give up and go back to the road on this one!


Tonight we are in an albergue in Llanes.
Tomorrow we intend to depart from the all-walking program and ride a bus over to Covadonga, a Marian shrine and the beginning of the Reconquista.
Ultreia.