LIVE from the Camino Cameron's Primitivo

[ChairmanOng]

Hi everyone, first time poster and on Day 2 of my Camino! Wanted to give back to the forum, for all the valuable information I've received so far (and perhaps my first timer mishaps!). So to share at this stage:

Day 1 Oviedo - Grado, 19 October. Excellent weather conditions, cool mornings but the days are warm, with excellent visibility along the trail. Maybe one or two small trees collapsed on the trail, but easy enough to duck under. Not too busy with pilgrims this week, majority I met were continuing on from Camino del Norte.

I stayed at Albergue La Quintana, no major complaints, it's worth noting there are no decent laundry facilities at all here (e.g. dryer), so I ended up with a bag of handwash damp clothes... And I think noted elsewhere, the showers are open showers, not stalls, if that's a consideration. Dinner (€10) and breakfast (€5) was basic, but fine.

I understand from others that the municipal in Grado was full by about 3:30 PM. La Quintana was maybe only one-third occupied.

Day 2 Grado - La Espina, 20 October. Today was even more glorious, sunny all day. Trail was very good again, maybe some small sections of the trail after Selas were extremely boggy/muddy but not impassable. Plenty of familiar faces already on the climb out of Grado!

I pressed on to La Espina and am staying at Albergue El Texu - can I give a huge cheer to Thijs and Gepke! A very new albergue (three weeks open?) but what a contrast to my first night - a friendly welcome and fully equipped. Very worthy of any pilgrim's consideration.

From here, thinking about doing a Day 3 full leg La Espina - Borres (in particular, Collinas de Arriba and Albergue Los Hospitales). The weather forecast for Tuesday 22 October isn't promising for Los Hospitales though...

And then later on, a good think about turning onto the Camino Verde! I'll keep reporting back if there's interest here

 

[Telelama]

The Verde is amazing, some of best days on Camino we've had was on the Verde. No one around, walking through the woods, small farms and tiny hamlets, great views, good food, what's not to like?

Great report and write up. Appreciate the dates and weather & trail conditions. Very helpful.

 

[Peterexpatkiwi]

@ChairmanOng, thanks for posting , I shall enjoy following along.
I'm a bit late seeing this so you will be halfway through your day by now, I'm guessing you're finding it significantly easier than yesterday afternoon climbing out of Salas. (I can understand why some prefer to have that as the beginning of their day three rather than the end of day two! )
I loved the Primitivo.
I echo @Telelama with regards to the camino Verde. (How could I not, I followed his directions) To me, it was the icing on the cake.

I think I remember reading that the woods could be a little bit muddy if you've had significant rain. And remember there are zero services during the day.

Buen Camino

 

[Adelina]

Missed you at the donativo in Grado. Agree it was a glorious Sunday. Weather has definitely changed- very chilly today. Don’t despair- the walk through pola is quite spectacular if you can’t go through hospitales. The primitivo is beautiful every which way!

 

[peregrina2000]

The weather forecast for Tuesday 22 October isn't promising for Los Hospitales though...

I have walked the Hospitales route several times, and would only hesitate to walk it if thunder and lightening are in the forecast. There can be pea-soup fog up there, so I would make sure to walk with someone if it’s going to be foggy, so that you can team-tag from one arrow to another. (Or have a good GPS track). The arrows are close enough on Hospitales to have one person stay at an arrow and the other go ahead to find the next one and then call the first person up, if that makes sense.

The route through Pola has a very tricky descent, and I did it once in the pouring rain. It was very dicey, and I was with two people who fell.

Whichever route you take, the two routes meet at the high point (Puerto de Palo) and both then have the fairly treacherous descent to Montefurado. The ascent from Pola de Allande to Puerto de Palo is much steeper than anything you will get on Hospitales, so I think that in many ways, Hospitales is the easier option.

This thread is OLD (as am I), but the information about the routes is pretty unchanged. New accommodations since then, of course, but the info on the trails themselves is accurate, I think.

 

[Cicada]

Hi everyone, first time poster and on Day 2 of my Camino! Wanted to give back to the forum, for all the valuable information I've received so far (and perhaps my first timer mishaps!). So to share at this stage:

Day 1 Oviedo - Grado, 19 October. Excellent weather conditions, cool mornings but the days are warm, with excellent visibility along the trail. Maybe one or two small trees collapsed on the trail, but easy enough to duck under. Not too busy with pilgrims this week, majority I met were continuing on from Camino del Norte.

I stayed at Albergue La Quintana, no major complaints, it's worth noting there are no decent laundry facilities at all here (e.g. dryer), so I ended up with a bag of handwash damp clothes... And I think noted elsewhere, the showers are open showers, not stalls, if that's a consideration. Dinner (€10) and breakfast (€5) was basic, but fine.

I understand from others that the municipal in Grado was full by about 3:30 PM. La Quintana was maybe only one-third occupied.

Day 2 Grado - La Espina, 20 October. Today was even more glorious, sunny all day. Trail was very good again, maybe some small sections of the trail after Selas were extremely boggy/muddy but not impassable. Plenty of familiar faces already on the climb out of Grado!

I pressed on to La Espina and am staying at Albergue El Texu - can I give a huge cheer to Thijs and Gepke! A very new albergue (three weeks open?) but what a contrast to my first night - a friendly welcome and fully equipped. Very worthy of any pilgrim's consideration.

From here, thinking about doing a Day 3 full leg La Espina - Borres (in particular, Collinas de Arriba and Albergue Los Hospitales). The weather forecast for Tuesday 22 October isn't promising for Los Hospitales though...

And then later on, a good think about turning onto the Camino Verde! I'll keep reporting back if there's interest here

Yes there's interest
Buen Camino

 

[ChairmanOng]

Some footnotes to my first post:
I ended up the only pilgrim at Albergue El Texu overnight. It looks like most Albergues outside the standard stops are truly in shoulder season, booking anything from empty to close to full from day to day. Particularly in shoulder/low season for donativos, a WhatsApp in advance certainly helps with meals.

Most pilgrims will see El Texu’s signs and albergue coming out of the first section from Salas, especially with Bodenaya closed for the season. Highly encourage everyone to duck in for a coffee and cake on the way (the apple pie was excellent)!

I used Taxi Camino to ditch a couple of kilos at the end of Day 1, very responsive on WhatsApp.

On with the next stages:
Day 3 La Espina - El Espín, 21 October.
The largely farm lanes between La Espina and Tineo are largely acceptable, but there are plenty of waterlogged sections. The worst is probably a 50m long bog, hemmed in by a barbed wire farm fence that should challenge the mudworthiness of your shoes. From Tineo and its very pleasant promenade, the trail thankfully changes into very good forest path, winding with the hills.

I took the Camino de Obona detour. It’s a quite pleasant mix of farm and rocky lanes, with sun exposure that’s kept it dry. I couldn’t find much else on the Obona detour apart from the plaque. From a Primitivo pilgrim’s perspective, you can visit Obona without backtracking at the later marker, it's also a change from the wetter forest path. There are no markers on the Obona route, so have a photo of the plaque at least, or use your GPS, the monastery will also be in line of site as you come down the hill. I found Obona an interesting visit!

Up to Villaluz, the trail is largely pleasant forest trail, not too waterlogged. Most of us should take the pleasant Villaluz rest spot before the stretch of bitumen road walking through to El Espín.

I stayed at Albergue Casa Pascual n.8, a small donativo for 11 (8 pilgrims for the night). As others have mentioned, Sylvia is the most amazing host. Dinner was delicious and slept very well that evening.

@Telelama, @Peterexpatkiwi - thanks, very inclined to Camino Verde! Peter - I found your vlogs shortly before I left, you've been very helpful in filling some gaps!

@Cicada, thanks for the support and @Adelina still hope to catch you along the way!

@peregrina2000 thanks! Will write up my Los Hospitales day very soon and your info's certainly been invaluable in planning for the Primitivo