LIVE from the Camino Turn left at the coast and carry on

[AlanSykes]

The albergue in Comillas being closed, I chose the worst pensión in town to stay in, €30 for a room my wife would find unacceptable for our dog (he is quite a fussy dog). The advantage of staying in a dump is that there is no incentive to linger in the morning, so I was out by 7.15, with the dying moon making three in a bed with the separating Venus and Jupiter, and Gaudí's Capriccio still floodlit.

Soon after San Vicente, and the first coffee of the day, I caught up with a German peregrina, the first person I've walked with this year. Sadly she was heading off on the Liébana, so after a couple of pleasant hours, with fabulous views of the Picos she was heading into, we parted, after she confirmed from her guidebook that the albergue in Pendueles was open in November. It isn't, but an amiable slightly sozzled man in the bar told me to knock at the door of the big house next door, where the nice owner is putting me up for the night for €12 in a very comfortable stone-lined room full of heavy antique oak furniture. It's a bit nerve-wracking when that happens, but miraculously I've yet to spend a night in the church porch.

 

[Ekelund]

What an adventure, thanks for sharing. Makes me want to walk it.
What a beautiful view.
Buen Camino to you.

 

[crackmrmac]

an amiable slightly sozzled man in the bar told me to knock at the door of the big house next door, where the nice owner is putting me up for the night for €12 in a very comfortable stone-lined room full of heavy antique oak furniture.

Great.
Tomorrow morning enjoy bufones, and later, sea views along promenade in Ribadesella.
Buen Camino

 

[peregrina2000]

Looks like you are getting a special dispensation from the grey rainy November weather that comes to Northern Spain so often. Lucky you!

 

[peregrina2000]

The albergue in Comillas being closed, I chose the worst pensión in town to stay in, €30 for a room my wife would find unacceptable for our dog (he is quite a fussy dog). The advantage of staying in a dump is that there is no incentive to linger in the morning, so I was out by 7.15, with the dying moon making three in a bed with the separating Venus and Jupiter, and Gaudí's Capriccio still floodlit.

Soon after San Vicente, and the first coffee of the day, I caught up with a German peregrina, the first person I've walked with this year. Sadly she was heading off on the Liébana, so after a couple of pleasant hours, with fabulous views of the Picos she was heading into, we parted, after she confirmed from her guidebook that the albergue in Pendueles was open in November. It isn't, but an amiable slightly sozzled man in the bar told me to knock at the door of the big house next door, where the nice owner is putting me up for the night for €12 in a very comfortable stone-lined room full of heavy antique oak furniture. It's a bit nerve-wracking when that happens, but miraculously I've yet to spend a night in the church porch.

View attachment 22295

Ok, Alan, just because you're on the well-traveled Camino del Norte doesn't mean that you can stop checking in to let us know how things are going. I think this is the first 24 hour period without a report from you! Hope all is well on the Norte.

 

[AlanSykes]

On Sunday the sea was so flat calm the bufones weren't functioning, and it was only seeing a picture of them in a bar further on that I reàlised what l was missing. My first dip in the Atlantic was a km or 2 further on. If you'd told when when l was emerging from the Mediterranean a month ago that my next swim would be just as placid and feel even warmer, I'd have been surprised.

Dumped my rucksack in the albergue in Llanes at lunchtime (alphanumeric entry system, very posh, €11) and carried along the beaches packed with surprised looking Madrileños enjoying their long weekend - one told me that it was hotter here than in Málaga. Around dusk the feve took me back to Llanes albergue fromNueva.

Llanes albergue being the railway station, it was fairly easy to take the 7.40 feve in dawn light back to Nueva, and carry on, mostly in sight of the coast, to the simpler but very decent albergue in La Isla (€5), where Antonío, a pilgrim from Madrid, was making some stew.

 

[Magwood]

I am really looking forward to your posts. I am planning El Norte for 2016.
Buen camino!

 

[KinkyOne]

I am really looking forward to your posts. I am planning El Norte for 2016.
Bon camino!

And we are looking forward to your posts

 

[AlanSykes]

I think there would have been some spectacular views of the coast today, but we are shrouded in warm mis all day. Villaviciosa seemed a pleasant town, 5 hours or so from La Isla. On the outskirts was La Gaitero, the local hórreos are square but clearly similar to the rectangular ones further west, and the second bar in town was a pulpería, so all in all I must be close to Galicia. Not being able to resist pulpo, I stopped and had some with the high poured sidra. Very pleasant, but there was some debate about whether the albergue in Valdediós was open, and with the sidra dragging my feet, I decided not to risk another 7km to a damp, empty and possibly closed monastery, but stop in the new donativo albergue of Amandi, where they have a fabulous semi-circular portada on their 13th century church of San Juan. The 9th century prerrománica delights of San Salvador de Valdediós will have to wait to the morning, when it's forecast to be sunny again, so I should be able to enjoy it more.

 

[Ekelund]

I'm planning to walk the El Norte in July 2016 and I enjoy reading your posts. It sounds just lovely. Right now I'm at the stage where I gather information and it is helpful to read your posts.

I am planning El Norte for 2016.

Magwood, when are you walking the Camino, it would be great meeting you, I learned so much from you PC blog.
Buen Camino to you alansykes

 

[peregrina2000]

I think there would have been some spectacular views of the coast today, but we are shrouded in warm mis all day. Villaviciosa seemed a pleasant town, 5 hours or so from La Isla. On the outskirts was La Gaitero, the local hórreos are square but clearly similar to the rectangular ones further west, and the second bar in town was a pulpería, so all in all I must be close to Galicia. Not being able to resist pulpo, I stopped and had some with the high poured sidra. Very pleasant, but there was some debate about whether the albergue in Valdediós was open, and with the sidra dragging my feet, I decided not to risk another 7km to a damp, empty and possibly closed monastery, but stop in the new donativo albergue of Amandi, where they have a fabulous semi-circular portada on their 13th century church of San Juan. The 9th century prerrománica delights of San Salvador de Valdediós will have to wait to the morning, when it's forecast to be sunny again, so I should be able to enjoy it more.

Oh, I was starting to say oh, no, alan, you can't pass Valdediós by, and then you ended with your walk for tomorrow. I know you will love it, though I think I remember that the church didn't open till 11 am, that may mean a long wait in a lovely meadow. Buen camino, Laurie

 

[Magwood]

Magwood, when are you walking the Camino, it would be great meeting you, I learned so much from you PC blog......

Hi @Ekelund, I'm planning to walk the Norte September/October next year. It would be great to meet, but I guess it will have to wait for another year and another camino...

 

[AlanSykes]

The new albergue at Amandi is only 7km from Valdediós, so I had 1 1/2 hours hanging around waiting for the 11am tour of San Salvador. Despite the astonishing exterior in its serene setting, including its alpha and omega cross which I've seen used a lot recently, but didn't realise had a 9th century local origin, the interior is worth the wait. So simple, so small and so lovely, with the ancient geometric paintings, the mysterious mix of porphyry, marble and different stones, and the intricate carvings, just wonderful.

I got greedy and decided to head for a bit more pre-romanesque at Santiago de Sariego, off the current camino. A couple of very fine 9th century windows, and some columns and a portico worth seeing but perhaps not worth the detour. And the detour did take me a long way from Gijón, where I'd meant to stay tonight. So it was a bus to Oviedo, through endless tedious suburbs and a pretty dreary centre - hope the Cámara Santa in the morning is a palliative.

 

[AlanSykes]

A lazy day, starting with a lie in waiting for Oviedo cathedral to open, and then doing the tour. Just in case Gijón was not worth missing, and as I don't expect ever to pass this way again, I took the train there, and walked out to the port. I liked the Chillida very much, and remembered a convivial dinner with him in Cumbria nearly 20 years ago when it was hoped to commission a sculpture from him for the Irish Sea, but, sadly, nothing came of it. And then a feve to Avilés, which I had wrongly hoped would be at the end of the Asturian industrial triangle. Walked on to unlovely Piedras Blancas, partly in a sea fret which kindly concealed some of the ugliness of the area. Now hoping that tomorrow will bring me back to proper coast and countryside.

 

[AlanSykes]

Thank goodness, the suburbs of Avilés finally vanished outside Piedras Blancas. Although part of the day was zigzagging the motorway and the N632, mostly it was great, in green, or green and gold, tunnels, with the occasional bay or river inlet, and very little tarmac. At Soto de la Barca I think I found the first error in Peter Robbins' maps, where he appears to suggest swimming across the estuary, which might be nice but I found the road bridge perfectly adequate. Now installed in the albergue of Soto de Luiña (5€), with a Swiss peregrina who has taken over 30 days from Irún.

 

[AlanSykes]

Despite the very strong discouragement of Pepe, SdL's excellent hospitalero, I decided to risk the high road to Cadavedo - the old camino path, not used since the motorway was built. And it was really really lovely, along a high ridge with the mountains to the left and the sea below to the right. Probably best not done in bad weather, but on a perfect autumn morning like yesterday's, with plenty of water, not to be missed.

Once back down at ground level it was a fairly dull mix of tarmac and dirt tracks to Luarca, where I had the private albergue in the town centre to myself (€10), and the same today on from Luarca to La Caridad (municipal albergue, otherwise empty, €5). All going well, tomorrow I should cross the Eo into Galicia. This is the view north from the (discouraged) old camino after Soto de Luiña, from what is (or was) apparently the highest point of the Norte (720m}:

 

[peregrina2000]

Alan, your weather has been impossibly good, you have had no blisters, and you never get lost, not even on detours to visigothic churches or up on untraveled, discarded alternative paths. I don't know what you're doing right, but if you figure it out, bottle it and sell it in Ivar's store.

 

[Tia Valeria]

Watching with interest . Are you aiming to follow the Ruta do Mar to San Andrés de Teixido and then down to Ferrol and the Inglés?
Buen Camino

 

[AlanSykes]

Watching with interest . Are you aiming to follow the Ruta do Mar to San Andrés de Teixido and then down to Ferrol and the Inglés?
Buen Camino

Yup that's the plan. My tablet having just died means I now had no access to my offline maps from wikiloc, but having been busking it mostly for 1000km, the last few days shouldn't be too much of a problem, he says hubristicly. So I will probably get lost, and everybody gets wet in Galicia, even in this astonishing autumn.

Today from La Caridad, leaving at 7.30 with Mars slowly moving in on Venus as Jupiter moves north was a lovely day, mostly in sight of the coast, with some fine bays and cliffs to enjoy, and the distant ones further on in the haze.

And so ended my Camino del Norte, crossing the Eo on the really horrible road bridge with the wonderful views of the estuary.

 

[Tia Valeria]

Alan, I don't know if this helps but we walked from Ribadeo by the coast path to As Catedrais, then followed signs to Barreiros, then to San Martino de Mondonedo and on to Foz. Then to Cangas and Burela, San Cibrao, O Castelo (roadhouse) Xove. This is where we took the train to Viveiro but stayed at Aguadoce (Esteiro), but the maps show the route going north from Xove and round to Esteiro. Then Viveiro (accomodation near FEVE), Covas (again we took the train to Espasante - stayed at 'La Paloma') via a remote area through Riobarba and Ponte de Porto towards Orteguira. This is the first section with no food or accomodation. Then Rio Major to Ponte Mera (doable by FEVE from Espasante - early morning. The way from Ponte Mera is well marked to San Andrés and I would think that the way to the Ingles is reasonable to find. We took a taxi from San Andrés to Cedeira and then the bus to Ferrol.
Are you able to pick up the link to the Lugo Amigos website with their outline plan? It is here http://www.lugocamino.com/camino-del-mar
Buen Camino