Sixth update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone. 

Yesterday we left Salas at around 9 in the morning. This was late for us.

We arrived in Tineo around 3:30 pm, just before the daily siesta started.  We stayed in the albergue of Hotel de Meras. The setup was fresh and modern. (In other words, nothing was old enough to be broken, the bunks were sturdy and comfortable, and they were set up in 4 bed nooks.) We were assigned to the two bottom bunks in one nook. It had a big red curtain for noise control and privacy.

A parish church along the way. It is dedicated to the martyrs St. Justo and his companion, who were shepherds.

We had a lovely snack of vino tinto and croquetas at a bar near our alburgue. This was their terrace view of Tineo. 

Later, instead of signing up for the fix price pilgrim's menu, we had burgers in the bar of the hotel. They weren't bad at all.

Fifth update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone. 

Yesterday we left Grado at around 0800, when there was enough light to walk by.

There were both ups and downs, and about 4 pm we arrived in Salas.

We stayed at the Albergue La Campa. The hospitalero was very friendly. He told us that the albergue had a community supper, which was vegetarian, a`d that they also offered a breakfast.

The vegetarian supper was very tasty, mushroom broth and the a thick pottage of vegetables with some rice for thickening.  The dessert was fresh-made ice cream...I don't want to know if it was made from almond milk. 

Next morning we hung around for the breakfast as not much is open on Sunday morning...turned out there was no tortilla espana (this is a perfectly wonderful egg dish) and the choices were some Greek style yogurt with fruit or pancakes. DH went for the pancakes, they didn't look at all like American pancakes. The yogurt was nicely tangy. 

Fourth update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone. 

We left our hostel in Oviedo, Hostal Fidalgo, abefore sunrise but but there was light enough. t a couple minutes past 8 in the morning.  It was around 30 minutes before sunrise but there was light enough to walk.  And getting to the edge of the city took about an hour, so it was easy to see when we got into the countryside.

We walked to Grado, around 25 km. The walk went through some beautiful little valleys. We enjoyed seeing the rivers with water so clear you can count the stones on the bottom.

High points: ate jamon bocadillo at about 10:30 for breakfast at a little bar en route. The trail was much less difficult than the first three days of the Salvador. We were able to look up from the next step and see things...there were still places that were either uphill or downhill with enough steepness that we slowed down to prevent falls. About 5 km before the end we found a bar-albergue that looked new and very nice. We stopped for a drink because we were thirsty and hot. (Hot means something different when carrying a pack up and down hills, I doubt it got far past 70F the whole day.) That place was called Villa Palatina i think. 

The weather was beautiful, starting out around the low 40s F and getting up to maybe 72F. We wore layers of course, and gradually got down to walking in our shirts. 

We stayed at the Albergue Quintana in Grado. This building began as an old Iniano house. The present owners bought and fixed it up. They have a small bar, too, so if a tired pilgrim is thirsty he doesn't have to wander the town in search of refreshment. 

This is the amazingly beautiful chandelier light in the pension room we stayed in. The whole place is beautiful.

That was all for yesterday. 

Third update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone.

We reached Oviedo the day before yesterday and had a rest day. Today we will walk to Grado.

This has been such a crazy couple of years that, since our Spain phone is now reactivated at the convenient Orange shop here in Oviedo, we are making reservations a day or two ahead.

In Pola de Lena, where we stayed at a small hotel, they were having a fiesta. A few fellows brought out instruments and did a song fest with their friends in front of the bar. (This was the bar whose owners had the little hotel. La Payareta I think it's called.)  

This was the first fiesta in 2 years, a long time. Everyone was out enjoying the evening.

More in next post. 

Second update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone. 

Yesterday we started in Poladura, where we had stayed in the lovely Hotel Rural El Embrujo. (No signs of any actual wizarding here! Just a very nice room, great shower, wonderful dinner.) 

We were "scheduled" for an 18.7 km day. Well. Those were some long kilometers! We started by  walking up to the Cruz del Salvador. This was a bit steeep.  Happily, a fellow pilgrim from Chlekia arrived as we did and snapped a picture for us. Then we passed the high point of the Camino...don't know which crest of the trail it was exactly...then down and when we reached Puerto de Pajares we found the first bar all day. Cafe leche a little strong on the coffee side for my taste. Left there and passed around the back side through the most beautiful autumn crocuses, went through a gate and on down to cross the highway. Then through a nature park and up to the hamlet of Santa Marina (4 inhabitants, they told us) where we asked after the albergue and the nice bartender took us outside and pointed to the next peak in the mountains. "Only 30 minutes, I did it all the time when I was a kid," the nice man said. His older neighbor muttered "more like 50" as we thanked them and left, greeting the old ladies sitting on their stoops enjoying the late afternoon. The trail around the mountainside was lovely, thank God it wasn't dark yet.

About 8 pm, as the albergue was commencing to serve the very good supper, our Chek fellow pilgrim arrived. The sun had set about 7:25, I know how he did that trail in falling darkness!

At the end, in Llanos de Someron (alternate spelling Chanos de Someron) we found alovely, new albergue. Great supper, too. 

Update on pilgrimage 2021

 Hello, everyone.

I left off with our (long) day getting to Leon. 

What with all of the ridiculous airline changes (looking at you Air Canada) we ended up leaving on a different day altogether and because of the date changes we only spent one night in Leon. 

We walked to La Robla the next day, 27 km by the book. That's the same distance as the walk from Deba to Markina on the Norte route, which is famously difficult with much climbing. This was was nearly as hard for us, with a bunch of ups and downs in the middle third. The countryside is beautiful and we saw a lot more flowers than I had expected.

The following day we set off to Poladura. This began gently but we began climbing even before Buiza and there was a big climb after the town.

The city sign is a popular photo spot.

The big climb of the day went over a mountain and the down to the village of Poladura. The info on Gronze.com says 24 km but they were tough ones.

More in next post!

Pilgrimade 2021 is on the road!!!

 Hello everyone. 

We thought this walk would fail like the last two attempts did. It almost did fail. But some date changes, a ticket cancellation, and totally new tickets saved the day. Or at least the pilgrimage walk.

We stayed up for around 36 hours, flying from our home airport to DFW. Then DFW to Madrid.

We then bussed to the northern region of Spain. It was a really long day Wednesday-Thursday so I didn't make a post.

This very unusual machine was at a remote-area stop on the way to Leon. It is really big and tall. I took the photo through the bus window.

Today was also very tiring so I will discuss it in the next post.