The Colors of Asturias

 Hiking Day 23    May 1

Miles    10.0

Total miles    315.2

Ascent    371’

Descent     306’

Stepping out into a light mist, we are off early, wearing rain jackets but no rain pants. Soon we shed the rain jackets as the day once again improves. The first 5 miles are on quiet rural back roads, so seldom-used on this Sunday morning that we see zero cars for 5 miles. We pass a couple that we have not piously seen that are hiking the Primitivo and are from France. We see no other pilgrims all day. 

Yesterday we reconnected with Amanda, the young woman from Australia. She has changed her plans and has decided to hike the Primitivo rather than continuing to Santiago on the Camino del Norte. We will likely see her again in a couple of days…we seem to cross paths very few days and have since almost the beginning in Irun, over 300 miles ago.

It is a short day and not very inspiring as the last five miles into Oviedo mostly follow busy highways through commercial and light industrial areas. It is chilly and overcast as we enter Oviedo where we reach our hotel by 11:45 am. Once again our luggage does not arrive and we spend some time tracking it down. It finally arrives about 4 pm. 

In Oviedo, we have joined our good friend Bill Farrow from Boulder. Bill flew in a couple of days ago to hike the remaining 200+ miles into Santiago with Scot and me!

                       

 This bridge was built by the Roman Empire sometime in the 4th or 5th century. It is still     

intact and the Camino Primitivo crosses over it!

The Camino del Norte and the Camino Primitivo pass through four provinces of Spain: the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias, and Galicia. We have been in Asturias for some time and will be for several more days before we enter the fourth and final province of Galicia. 

One very unique thing about Asturias is the colorful variety of house colors. In most of Spain including the Caminos we have done, the normal house colors are muted shades of tan, white, and browns. Not so in Asturias! Below I have included some examples of these rather wild paint choices!!