Camino Pilgrim

I can feel that yesterday had a bad impact on foot health. Bones in the foot have become quite sensitive on asphalt downhills and on extremely long concrete stretches.

The first 15 kilometers today went perfectly. I made my own route out of Oviedo. I walked from the central train station area to Villamejil region. It was a beautiful sight from uphill, looking down on almost all of Oviedo. People there had really nice houses and lots of locals were doing a morning walk along the same Finlandia hiking road as I did. Until Laviada village, I was not on the official Camino. I had to walk a bit downhill to connect with the route.

Since I had spent the last two days walking southwest, away from the main Norte, towards Oviedo, it took me a full day walking directly north to catch the main trail again.

I was curving hillsides most of the day, as can be seen in the image. It was all good until a little later I was forced to walk along the AS-17 highway for 10 kilometers, mostly in a straight line without any shade.

There were very few bars today. The first one that was open I had only 5km before finishing. I was out of water by that time, but I did not care anymore. The muscles and bones in my feet had started hurting. I needed a good place to rest in the shade. One bus stop was almost good enough, but not quite.

The best place to rest that I found all day was in a park in Avillés just 1km before finishing. I took a solid half hour break to walk the last kilometer today. On the last stretch towards the albergue I visited a grocery store and got all the food and snacks I needed for the next 24 hours. I should be good for a big day tomorrow. Hopefully the feet will agree too.

I knew that everyone in Oviedo would start the Camino Primitivo. Even if there were someone that goes back to the Norte, then most likely they would use public transport to skip the hiking route I did. I can perfectly understand them based on how bad the last 10km are.

My expectation in Avillés was that the big albergue has maybe 10 pilgrims. The Primitivo is a very popular choice among pilgrims. Not just for pilgrims who have been walking the Norte, but also for brand new ones. At best, half of the pilgrims walk the full Norte, which started in Irun. Somehow, there are over 30 pilgrims here at the albergue. I do not know if I have been too slow or too fast, but I seemed to have caught a huge group that came from Gijon this morning.

Lets see if I can outpace the masses and walk in blissful solitude into Santiago.