Camino FORK to Camino Primitivo
(or return to Camino del Norte via Avilés)
or to go straight ahead to Gijon and then
down to Oviedo to join Primitivo
or Villaviciosa to Pola-siero.
We had decided to head for the Primativo,
so we
had a hearty breakfast in a local cafe and set off.
The day started well, but cold,
and a fellow Scot took
a picture of us at the first fork to the
Primitivo.
We had a look around a little church,
where unfortunately Sue left her map
and a shell she had bought,
and we continued on.
We took a detour to
magnificent monestary in San Salvador de Valdedios
which is on a detour before
San Pedro
, a fascinating place with a tiny
9th century church and a now abanded
monestary
dating from the 12th to the 19th century.
From there we struggled uphill to a pass,
with no coffee shop, only a closed garage
and strong winds
where we ate our lunch on a dilapidated
bench in the wind.
The path wound down old roads to the
valley, but from there we were on
hard roads for some time
- not shown on the pictures!
We found a bar with a grumpy waitor
where we had hot Colacaco
and cake to keep us going, and saw
some people from Lourdes
travelling with donkeys.
After more roads, we stopped at a picnic
area for a snack,
where Sue tripped over a blue string
and hurt her leg.
After that we had less main roads,
with some deviations
on old roads and finally through woods
and past a chuch into the town.
The town was large and not very
pleasant, but eventually we found the
hostel, and after some initial confusion
were welcomed by the friendly hosts.
We were given a menu for pilgrim meals
in a local restaurant,
so we made our way to it, tried some local
specialities, staggered back and collapsed
exhausted.