Today we ventured to the ocean on the west side of Llanes and hiked the Senda Costera - this is a coastal path running along much of the Asturian coast. Asturias is the province or region where we're staying. In the map above, Asturias is about the middle-top in pink and Llanes is on the right side of Asturias above the A5 number. Gwen says Asturias is a mauve color on the map and I can't even see the A5 number.
The walk along the coast is also another route for Camino de Santiago. There are at least eight major Caminos, and probably many lesser routes. The Camino in this part of the country is know as
the Northern Route or the Coastal Way. It, too, is marked all along the way by the Camino scallop shell, even when the trail winds through villages and on beach paths. Frankly, that sign is everywhere. Well, everywhere we've been this trip in Spain and France. I guess as long as you go on a journey to get to the shrine of St. James in Santiago de Comostela, it doesn't matter what path you take to get there!
If you're thinking of doing a Camino, here's a great website that shares the good, the okay, and the really ugly parts of the journey by just about every route. It's title is
10 Reasons Why El Camino Santiago Sucks!
In addition to the hiking pilgrims, we were passed by a couple guys biking the Camino. So much for a prayerful walk. Actually, biking sounds like it would be a good idea. Most of the pilgrims we see look way overloaded with gear, tired, and lost in spite of the good directions.
We passed a few pilgrims hiking with big packs and carrying water bottles and bocadillos or bocata. In Spain, this is a sandwich made with what looks like baguette bread cut lengthwise, with a very thin slice of ham and some not very interesting cheese. Of course, there are different varieties in different places, but that's the most common one sold to tourists. It's the Spanish version of subway only with much less everything but the bread. I think it's a commentary on life in Spain, but that's another topic. You can get miniature ones called Pinchos about 3" long.
We walked from Poo to Celorio, and, yes, I know it sounds odd. It's pronounced "Poh," not that other way. The coastline is very rugged with sandy hidden beaches every here and there. Sadly for us, it was high tide and we traded beach walking for big vistas and crashing waves on rock.
On the way back to our car from the picnic, we came across an old, old, laundry facility below the road almost hidden in the trees. We're talking the kind where the women gathered centuries ago and did their washing together in stream water because there was no running water in the houses. It was situated next to a spring that was still running who knows how many centuries later. This one in Poo had been rehabilitated and was in like-new condition. One fellow referred to it as the woman's newspaper. I guess the news of the village had to be produced somewhere so with room for a dozen washer-women, most all the news about life in the village pretty much got spread around here.
It was market day when we got back to Llanes. Market is like a traveling Target store with groceries. You can get most of what you'd need for life here in these markets. The vendors reminded me of the traveling covered wagons with pans hanging on the side. I did peek into one grocery store and saw a sight you don't see often in the US. A whole wall of ham (the legs) hanging there in the open. Just another reason to eat less ham.
Being 2 PM, everything closes down but the tapas joints. It's creepy how, within about 15 minutes of the hour, everyone is at home or in a pub chatting away over coffee or a beer. About 4 PM, the whole town clears out and people go home to eat again. That's why we can't eat dinner till 9 PM. They're all full from eating all afternoon.
We headed to Llanes port with a long entrance from the ocean to the mouth of a river. It's been a fisherman's safe haven for centuries. Strange thing about the town is that there is only one bridge across the inlet and it's one way traffic only. If you cross that bridge for shopping or dinner, it's a very long and circuitous way to get your car back to the other side. We learned that the hard way one night after a late dinner. The map of the medieval town basically looks like what's left after a lot of worms have crawled off a piece of paper.
Gwen needed a sweet after our small beer and pincho, so to practice her Spanish, we did a little dress rehearsal and she headed off the to Confiteria (sweets shop). She came back with a small bag of goodies and smiling. In some universal language, the woman in the shop told her she was too skinny and needed to eat more cookies. Not sure but I'll bet we'll be going back to that shop.
We had the sweet munchie in the harbor area and then headed out to scout seafood restaurants for a fish dinner the next night. That's IF tomorrow's hike doesn't kick our butts and we can find our way back into town at 8:30 for a 9 PM dinner. Imagine in the States, and you're opening your restaurant at say 4:30, finding a collection of Americans waiting at the door. That's why they think we're weird.
Tomorrow we're off to Fuente De and the cable car ride to the trail head. We're finally getting the hang of how to hike in these mountains. Just get transported up the steep part and then do the easy back half of the hike on the way down!
I'll tack on a couple additional photos at the end.
Blessings from the high road!
Earl and Gwen
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