The stay in last night’s albergue was really nice. The bed was comfortable, the other pilgrims were quiet and I had a good sleep, which was much appreciated as I was feeling pretty lousy by the end of the day - relapse of the ‘cold’ from Santander.
Even better, the albergue offered breakfast at 7.30am and everyone agreed to just get up at 7.15. Breakfast itself was a civilised affair, everyone seated around a large table with tea, coffee, toast, cheese and home made jam.
After, a start like that it is definitely easier to get out on the road. I walked with Matthieu for the morning along a forested path to Llanes, about fifteen kilometres further on.
Llanes itself is a nice coastal town with a small harbour and a compact old city. We met up with David here and shared second breakfast before visiting the harbour, the Farmacia, the Basilica of Santa Maria del Conceyu church and moving on.
I really liked the little harbour surrounded by colourful classic buildings.
Building of the church began in 1240, and it is one of the few examples of Gothic church design in Asturias, where Romanesque design dominates.
Next village - Poo!
Then more coastal walking.
With mountains never too far away.
As the afternoon wore on rain clouds started to form and during the last hour of walking it started to drizzle.
We arrived in Nueva at about five, after what felt like a long afternoon of walking (not helped by a lack of energy due to a resurgent cold!). Nueva itself, in the wake of the summer holiday season and dampened by rain, feels pretty down and drab. However, we did manage to get a bed for the night, (I’m sharing a room in Pension San Jorge with Matthieu), and there is the promise of dinner starting at 8pm(!) in the local bar (the only place open here), so what’s not to like??!!
👣
PS. Charles asked about the changing cast of characters that get mentioned in the blog and whether that means people divide the stages differently? That is exactly right. Different folks walk different length stages. Sometimes that is determined by how physically demanding a day is, or how you’re feeling on a particular day. Also, the availability of accommodation has an effect. For example, I tried to secure a bed in the next town from Nueva only to discover that the albergue I contacted as already fill and that the other albergue had closed for the season. This meant readjusting. I came across a family a couple of stages ago that I thought I’d left behind but it turns out they had caught a bus ahead to miss that messy, wet stage from Santander, so that’s another factor playing in. The other factor is that some people are only walking for say two weeks each year, so they might walk from Irun to Bilbao one year and then come back and walk from Bilbao to Gijón the next year. So you catch up to people, come across other people etc, etc.