2018 Camino del Norte by WynChar

We had very good Asturian food at this restaurant yesterday. Normally you have to buy a whole liter bottle of sidra (cider) because it goes flat quickly. I wanted some so I spent 2.6 euro (cheap!) on a bottle but drank less than half. This group was at a nearby table. The green bottles at the end of their table are empty sidra bottles so you see they like their sidra. We decided to give them our extra since it does not keep. They were happy to get it and it was gone in two minutes. They asked us where we were from. They were from Galicia, the province to the west, where Santiago is. They asked if we were walking the Camino and said we should definitely go on to Finisterre, similar to the advice the gypsy gave to Martin Sheen in “The Way”.

People have been so nice to us on this trip. Yesterday we had a long walk with no bars for coffee. (The horror! The horror!) Late morning, not yet having had breakfast, we passed an albergue and this kind woman was cleaning it. Albergues normally require you to leave by 8 am and are closed until about 3 pm. We asked if there was a nearby bar and she said there was none but they had a máquina inside where we could get coffee. She let us in and we got two coffees and two warm milks from the vending machine. There was a picnic table in front. We pulled out the cereal, fruit, and nuts we carry and voila, brunch.

Post by Wynette: Well, as long as we are doing food photos … We had this with our menu del día today. Fava beans, of which the Asturians are very proud, greens, potatoes, sausages, pork meat. (Photo shows a small fraction of the portion they served us.) This is one photo I’m going to look back on and remember the food here with great nostalgia.

We ate at this place yesterday and came back today because we enjoyed it so much. They were busy both days but today we barely got a seat. Sunday is a big day for the Spanish people to go out with family and friends to eat.

Menu was 12 euros yesterday and 13 today.

We try not to put in food photos since it gets out of hand. The food has been excellent and photogenic. But Asturias is noted or its blue cheese, and this dish with blue-cheese sauce was delicious. (Maybe doesn’t look so appetizing in the photo.) PS. We asked for salad instead of fried potatoes.

This hat was a gift from Vicki Dern. It has served me well on five Caminos.

Post by Wynette: We finished our walk today! Next time we are pilgrims again, we plan to start here or near here and continue on to Santiago. Our goal was to get to an important fork. To the right, the Camino del Norte continues on to Gijón. To the left pilgrims can head to Oviedo where the Camino Primitivo begins. We were delighted to find there is a little chapel at this point. They even had a sello (stamp for pilgrim passport) and a book we could sign. This was our “cathedral” at the end of this year’s Camino.

We actually continued on about a mile further, just because, and then walked back to our hotel in Villaviciosa. Total walking was 6.3 miles.

Our passports.

Our “cathedral.”

Our note.

Happy pilgrims.

Post by Wynette: Here is Charlie unlocking front door to our hotel in Villaviciosa (in the rain). No one else around in the hotel lobby or elsewhere. Though now we hear at least one other guest.

We just learned Villaviciosa means town of vices. We plan to stay here two nights so hope we learn more about the history of this little town of 15,000, a relatively big town for the Camino.

We walked 8.1 miles today. A nice walk through farm country. A couple of glimpses of the sea the distance.

Tomorrow we’ll walk to where Camino del Norte and Camino Primitivo meet, just a couple of miles from here, then walk back. Will be interesting walking the Camino backwards! Hope we have some time after that to add more photos, tell more stories.