Camino de Santiago del Norte
INTROThe Camino de Santiago is a network of long distance pilgrimages throughout Europe, primarily Spain, leading to Santiago de Compostela, Spain.
Lovely ladies on the Camino del Norte
This is about the North route (del Norte) which I began in San Sebastián, Spain. This route is roughly 500 miles (800 kilometers). This is different from an other backpacking I’ve done; less wilderness, more showers/town food. This comes after my completion of the Camino de Santiago Frances.
Day 15 - 18 took me from Llanes, Spain - Gijon, Spain.
OVERVIEWDAYS4
MILES/kilometers58.1/93.5
TOTAL ELEVATION GAINED6711 ft
TOTAL ELEVATION LOSS6605 ft
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The continued friendship with strong women in the outdoors.
Adding back mountains on the list of potential views.
2 nights of low, single beds.
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Heatwave for the week with high humidity.
Smokers everywhere.
The pavement walking.
Sea fog rolling in
In Depth
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Accommodation: Albergue Casa Rectoral de Piñeres
Distance: 13.3 miles / 21.4 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1285 ft
Elevation Loss: 928 ft
It was a short day to my next destination of Piñeres, so I took the full opportunity to sleep in. The Llanes hostel has privacy curtains around the dormitory bunks, which is great for blocking out any light or movement that might wake you up from other guests. So by the time I got out of my bunk, all of the women in my room had already left.
The night prior, there was such a fun atmosphere in the Llanes hostel that I was expecting it to at least be mildly welcoming in the morning, but that was not the case. It must’ve been the owner or manager that was doing administrative work, who was smoking inside, watching soap operas loudly. All the while being generally annoyed that I was around? He was so kind the night before so it was a very big switch. This is when I really started to realize how much all of the cigarette smoke began to impact me. I woke up with a little bit of a sore throat and irritated nasal passages so the smoke on the inside was aggravating. I quickly ate my breakfast before I packed up and left for the day.
Walking out of Llanes was beautiful and this ended up being one of my favorite small towns. I walked for a bit and then stopped and got a coffee in Poo/Po. There were a lot of Poo jokes around as the town seemed to lean into it.
There were more pristine beaches before the trail turned in again into farmland. I ended up walking for a bit with Jeniya (Russia/Italy). Again in such a short span of time it’s amazing what deep things that you can chat about while walking. A lot of us pilgrims are on a similar journey.
The goal for the day was an old rectory in Piñeres, as there was also an accommodation drought again. As I was passing through the last large town for the day, Nueva, I got a call from Sonya and Marina saying that there were limited food options with both grocery stores and restaurants. As the stores were just beginning to close for siesta, a period of several hours in the afternoon where everything closes, I grabbed dinner and breakfast for the three of us. As it was Sunday, we also the following day we also needed in addition to breakfast a couple snacks.
It was a very heavy last five kilometers on roads and then one last incline to get to the accommodation for the night. This was an interesting accommodation with the dorms being very tight and the bed being uncomfortable. When Sonya and Marina showed up, we all had snacks out on the patio and looked at the beautiful mountain view. This day really started to show us what the last little bit of the trail would look like.
After an unexpected rainstorm/deluge, it cleared up into a beautiful evening. Myself, Sonya, Marina, and Jeniya took some fun photos with the stunning scenery.
When we got tucked into bed, it was evident how old the bunk bed frames were because every time either Marina or myself took a breathe, the bed would squeak. It made for a long night.
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Accommodation: Albergue de Peregrinos
Distance: 16.3 miles / 26.2 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1511 ft
Elevation Loss: 1810 ft
Once again, Marina and Sonya left before I did because I just could not be moved in the morning. I had some breakfast with other folks at the hostel, but they were all in a group so it was hard to enter into that conversation.
I hiked alone until Ribadesella, where I was hoping for a café to be open to grab a coffee. One of the only coffee shops that was open on a Sunday morning, Marina and Sonya were sitting there waiting and having their own coffee. I joined them and we headed out together. As we were walking along a beautiful beach, Marina got a call that she had to get off trail a couple days in advance. Her and Sonya we’re getting off in Gijon for a variety of reasons anyway and then hopefully making their way back, but Maria‘s timeline moved up. So the three of us sat with a gorgeous view, figuring out some traveling logistics. We walked to the bus station and said goodbye. What a few days or a week can do for closeness when you’re meeting such beautiful people.
The rest of the day for Sonya and I was a bit of a blur because of the sudden departure of Marina. Though there were some great views everything was just muted. We got into La Isla where the accommodation was far off of the trail. And after a long, hot humid day with a bit of emotion, we were running on empty.
We grabbed some from the “market“ that had limited options and definitely limited gluten-free options. But I had ice cream so that was a win. The evening was just spent at the hostel. Another small and cramped one with squeaky beds, but at least no one was on the top bunk over me. There were a group of three women who had been around us for a while, who were just chainsmokers. And smoked in every moment of waking hours. So this meant, I had to stay inside for the evening and not enjoy a perfect evening because the smoke was too dense on the patio.
As the room began to fall asleep, there was one man whose snoring was the strangest and loudest thing that any of us had ever heard. You know it’s bad when a room full of 20 other people just start laughing because of the actual absurdity of the snore.
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Accommodation: Albergue Hostel Villaviciosa
Distance: 13 miles / 20.9 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 1457 ft
Elevation Loss: 1473 ft
The snore that could be heard kilometers away, remained consistent through the night and despite my best efforts of earplugs or noise canceling headphones, that thing was still felt.
Sonya and I are headed out at the same time for the day, but we had some quick breakfast. While enjoying breakfast on the patio at 6:30am, the group of three women lit up again and started smoking. It was just wild to me. That people could be so inconsiderate, especially at the hour of 6:30am.
Sonya and I took a bit of an alternate to connect back to the trail rather than doubling back the distance that we had done yesterday. This brought us to some beautiful farmland and some gorgeous baby cows at sunrise.
Sonya and I ended up hiking the entire day after we grab coffee and Columbres and this day had some ups and downs as you were getting into the mountains near Villaviciosa. We got into town pretty early, so ice cream was on the menu before our hostel was open for check-in. Our hostel turned out to be one of the nicer places we had been in the last several days with single beds, rather than bunkbeds, and a nearly private room. It had been a hot and sweaty day so again we felt like brand new women once we took showers in our private bathroom.
We went to the store to grab stuff for dinner and breakfast and I found a gluten-free pizza to eat as the had an oven. Hallelujah.
We had a quiet evening and it was quite relaxing. Unfortunately, the three women were there as well and smoking outside with air that led directly up to my window. Once it began raining, they relented the cigarettes. The rain was intense, but broke the humidity well.
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Accommodation: Hospedaje Vegadeo
Distance: 15.5 miles / 25 kilometers
Elevation Gain: 2458 ft
Elevation Loss: 2394 ft
I would be entering the large port of Gijon today. There were rumors on trail that from Villaviciosa to Gijon was just terrible, 100% pavement road walking. Sonya and I decided to try it and then catch a bus into town when it became a too industrial and chaotic.
This day ended up being beautiful. There were some pretty intense climbs as compared to what we’ve been doing but afterward… you just feel accomplished. There were many people that had left Villaviciosa as that’s typically “on stage” on Del Norte route so there were some good camaraderie on the trail.
Once we got about 5 kilometers out from town, we hopped on a bus rather than walking on a sidewalk through industrial areas into town.
We arrived to our accommodation, which again was a single low bed with a somewhat private bathroom. After another sweaty day with lots of climbs showers and freshening up were immediate. Both taking an accidental nap, the afternoon floated by.
Being gluten-free, would continue to prove a problem as we could not figure out a restaurant that would work for me, her preferences, and therefore for us. We went out to an interesting place where we sampled the areas Asturius’s cider. It was succinctly not for us, which seemed to offend the restaurant. Once again, I got kebab for dinner.
We tucked in for the night after that and had a quiet evening. Sonya was getting off of the trail the following day, but would be back!
GALLERY
