Goodbye del Norte!

 Hiking Day 22    April 30

Miles    19.7

Total miles    305.2

Ascent     1780’

Descent     1067’

Today we say goodbye to the ocean and goodbye to the Camino del Norte…we will not see either again. Three miles out of Villaviciosa, under overcast skies but no rain, we fork off of the del Norte and begin the Camino Primitivo. The Camino Primitivo or the Original Camino is the oldest Camino de Santiago route. In the 9th century, King Alfonso II the Chaste, was the first ever pilgrim on this route (although I suspect he was not traveling alone!). He walked (really?) from the city of Oviedo in Austria to Santiago with a mission to confirm that the remains found in Santiago were indeed those of St James the Apostle.

We will be hiking about 220 miles on the Camino Primitivo on our journey towards Santiago. We will join the Camino St James (Frances) about 30 miles from Santiago. The Primitivo is described  as one of the hardest Caminos, with steep climbs, great accumulations of mud, terrible food, and 50% on soft mud or grass. In 2019, 350,000 people did the Camino Frances and only 8,800 did the Primitivo. We will have almost 30,000 feet of elevation gain!

Once out of town we walk on paved roads for 2 miles and then onto unpaved paths where the climbing begins. We climb into the clouds for 4 miles on pleasant soft paths in the eerie light. No views but the walking is enjoyable!

                                    Pilgrims in the fog? Turns out to be vines on fence posts!

Finally we begin a long downhill and descend below the clouds into bright skies. The walk today is very pleasant, with the beginnings of the infamous Camino Primitivo mud.

We reach the town of Polo de Siero, where we think we are staying tonight. As we usually do, once we enter the edge off town, we enter our accommodation locations into Google Maps. We are shocked to see that we have another 3 miles to where we are staying. What would any pilgrim do? We find a nearby bar and have a cup of coffee before we press on.  Instead of 16.8 miles we anticipated, we end the day with 19.7 miles…a long but great day of hiking. The weather continues to favor us!!

                                        A medieval bridge built in the 13th century!

                This sign was above the urinal in one of the cafes we stopped in for coffee. It translates as:

                            “You Are Not a Firefighter

                               But You Have a Hose

                                Aim Well

                                And Don’t Piss Out’