My wife and I just finished a 200 mile hike in Northern Spain, and as I know a few of you here enjoy this stuff I figured I'd share a trip report and photos as I usually do. Plus I'm stuck on a train right now on our way back to Madrid, so writing this seems like as good a way as any to pass the time and mentally process what we just finished. I'll probably put it together with some photos and post it when we get back home, and break it down by day. I took a real camera this time, not just my phone, so I got some decent photos (and some not so decent) but a trip like this doesn't really make sense with just pictures…you also need the context and people we met along the way, hence the write-up.

A little background: The Camino Santiago is a network of historic Catholic pilgrimage trails, most of which culminate at the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela. The most common of these is the Camino Frances, which starts at the French border or beyond and makes its way to Santiago over some 500+ km. It's long (too long to do without some kind of sabbatical from work), crowded, and large segments of it are topographically boring. We're practicing Christians, but not Catholic, so the spiritual aspect is a little different for us, but we like to hike and enjoy the adventure of encountering new places and people.

Last year my wife, son, and I did a 60 mile section of the Camino Portugues from Vigo and then continued on from Santiago to the coast at Finisterre and Muxia. It was a great experience but this year I had a little more time and we wanted to do something a little different. We decided on the Camino Primitivo (in Spanish the "Original Way"), because it's mountainous, less popular (and less crowded), and short enough that we could get it done in about 14-15 days.

The Camino Primitivo begins in Oviedo and ends in Santiago de Compostela. It's just over 200 miles long, and there's between 25,000 and 35,000 feet of elevation gain over the entirety of the route, depending upon the routes you choose and what sources you look at. Based on how we did it, I imagine we were probably close to the high end of that. You travel through two different regions of Spain, Asturias and Galicia.

Sometime between 814 and 835, King Alphonso II of Asturias (or Fonzie, as I like to call him) decided to go on a pilgrimage from the Asturian capital in Oviedo to visit the bones of St James in Santiago de Compostela. Before he did this, there was no established pilgrimage route to Santiago, so he is considered the first pilgrim. Fonzie was kind of a badass, as he picked a pretty gnarly route. He was also engaged in fighting off the Muslim Moors who had occupied the rest of Spain. Thanks to him, they never got Asturias. So the pilgrimage was probably as much a political statement as it was a religious one...he was demonstrating that this was Christian territory and it was going to be maintained and protected.

Our trip started with a drive to Chicago to catch a TAP flight to Lisbon, nervously navigating the new EU biometric immigration requirements during a 2 hour layover (thankfully it wasn't as bad as expected, mainly because we had a lower volume of people), and then a quick flight into Madrid. We then had 2 hours to get to the Chamartin train station in Madrid (airport bus to Carcanias commuter rail station and a 15 minute train ride), and then get on an AVE high-speed train to Oviedo. Somehow it all worked out...we didn't get delayed or lost and got into Oviedo about 7pm Saturday night...roughly 25 hours after leaving our house in Indiana. Also, high-speed rail is cool. It's quite the experience going 200mph at ground level, and you get there quick.



We walked from the train station to the municipal albergue in Oviedo. I had done my research ahead of time and had the Buen Camino app to help with navigation, but I really had very little idea of what to expect.



On the walk to the albergue we discovered that there was some kind of huge festival going on. There was a parade with floats (giant Nina/pinta type boats with people riding on them) going down the main street, people everywhere, and the city was crazy. The Cathedral of Oviedo was on the way to the albergue, so we swung by. We went inside, but they had a mass going on, so we quickly ducked back out. We made our way through the crowds down some side streets and finally got into a less busy section of town and found the Albergue. It was pretty basic, but it wasn't full and had beds and showers, so we were good to go.



Before we left to go find a grocery store for some food, we met Kim and Kyle heading out to go check out the town, a lady from Ohio and her Nephew from Texas. Kim was clearly the friendly, outgoing type, and told us that they had started on the Camino del Norte at the French border and then cut down to finish their trip on the Primitivo. We spent a lot more time with them later on.

We hit up the grocery store, got some stuff for a salad for me and some baked goods for my wife, and ate a quick dinner at a picnic table outside the albergue with a few German girls. I'm not sure where they went after that night, because we never saw them again. It's possible they spent a few extra days in Oviedo, as a lot of pilgrims chose to do that in the larger towns along the way.

Day 2 Oviedo to San Juan de Villapaneda

Sleep came pretty easy after the long trip, and I probably got 5 or 6 quality hours despite the jet lag. We woke up when somebody else's alarm went off at 5:30 and knew we weren't getting back to sleep, so we got up and got going.

It was a Sunday morning, and as soon as we left the neighborhood where the albergue was and approached the old town area, it became obvious that something was off. Spaniards stay up late and sleep late....typically you don't see anybody out moving around until 8 or 9 am. But there were people everywhere, it smelled like piss, and a lot of them seemed drunk.

As we got into the old town area it got worse. Large crows of drunken revellers staggering around. Dudes with their pants around their ankles pissing in the street, broken bottles everywhere. The Cathedral is the official start point of the Primitivo, but it's right in the middle of the old town district and was going to require wading through these drunken crowds to get to it. I said "not today Satan!", and found a way around. We still encountered a bunch of drunks staggering home, but at least we had enough room to avoid them.

The streets were stone or concrete and wet with dew, piss, and beer, and my Saucony Expedition trail runners didn't grip it at all. I almost fell three or four times just getting out of town. Visibility was also pretty poor due to heavy fog and the sun didn't come up until after 8.



There was a good bit of climbing coming out of Oviedo, and we met a Dutch guy who said he had stayed at a private albergue in the city center and hadn't gotten a wink of sleep all night due to the noise outside.

A note about lodging on the Camino...you basically have 2 options. Public or Private. Public albergues (hostels) are only 10 euro/night or less, but they are basic and don't take reservations. If you get there and it's full, you're continuing on. And it may be a long way to the next one. Private hostels cost more, often have more amenities, and can be booked ahead. We like the Municipals because they're cheap, have everything we need, add to the adventure, and have better community.

Because we left so early we made it to Grado over 2 hours before the municipal albergue opened. There were already people waiting outside and it looked like it was going to be pretty crowded, so we opted to continue on a few more km to San Juan de Vilapaneda, that also had a public albergue. We stopped at a sidewalk bar and got lunch first, though. Cachopo...two thin chick filets with ham and cheese between them deep fried and breaded. So good. And because we'd been walking so much I was able to get away with eating it, despite my type 1 diabetes.

The climb out of Grado to San Juan de Vilapaneda was steep and brutal. And by that point it was hot. My wife was pretty gassed, and I ended up carrying her pack most of the way. But when we got there the albergue was fantastic.

The host was an older guy who was super friendly, but also super type A. He and his wife met us with cold glasses of water, clean towels (not normal in a municipal albergue...typically you're using your own microfiber one) and then he proceeded to show us every detail of the bathrooms, fully-stocked kitchen, laundry, bedrooms, etc. This seemed excessive until he then told us he was leaving to get lunch and take a nap, and to show anybody else who came what he'd shown us. Apparently we'd just been recruited as volunteer hospitaleros, lol.



After he left we showered, washed our clothes in the sink and hung them out to dry, then took a nap. About an hour or so later a German girl showed up, so we gave her the shpiel, let her get settled, and then we all hung out on a bench in the front yard overlooking the valley and the little sheep pen next door and talked. She was an air traffic controller and private pilot from the Berlin area, and spoke really good English so we communicated easily. It was just the three of us until 8pm, when the guy finally came back and officially checked us all in.

A pair of Slovak girls came in around 9 right before he left (I got to use my broken Czech that I haven't spoken in 25 years to help translate for them) and that was it for the night.

Very jealous. I would love to do that walk but I'm not sure my ankle would hold up for the whole thing. I'd hate to get all the way over there and have to bail. I'll have to settle by living vicariously.

Looking forward to more pics.

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
Very jealous. I would love to do that walk but I'm not sure my ankle would hold up for the whole thing. I'd hate to get all the way over there and have to bail. I'll have to settle by living vicariously.

Looking forward to more pics.

We met a few people who had to quit over the course of our trip, and I'll be honest, the night of our second day of walking (detailed below) when I went to bed I was really worried that I wasn't going to be able to make it. My feet were raw and my ankle was killing me. But the second day is always the hardest, and giving them a break at night and taking care of them during the day got me through...that and a lot of just sucking it up and fighting through it.

There are options. One guy who was tapping out due to foot problems told me he was just going to rent a car and spend a few days driving around so he'd still get to see the area. Another lady with a bad case of plantars fasciitis dropped her pace to 4 km a day. There's also luggage transfer services that you can chose to use so you don't have to carry your pack, busses, and numerous taxis cruising the route looking to talk people into giving up and catching a ride. They're like vultures...they pick a tall hill and will hang out right near the top. I'd have died before getting in one...but I'm also a stubborn idiot, and my legs and ankles are still a little trashed from the whole experience 3 days after getting home, lol. Also, the municipal albergues often won't let you stay if you don't show up on foot with your bags...but there are plenty of private ones that will. Everybody's gotta walk their own trip in their own way, and there's no rule that says you've gotta do it the way we did it.

Day 3 San Juan de Villapaneda to Salas

The other three woke up really early and left, so we had the place to ourselves. I took advantage of the kitchen and cooked up some eggs before we left. This was definitely one of the nicer Albergues that I've stayed at. We got on the trail about 7:30.

More elevation and it was hot and humid. The trail was uneven and I rolled my ankle a couple of times. Not sure if it was this day or slipping and sliding in Oviedo the day before, but I definitely got a mild low ankle sprain that progressive got worse for the rest of the trip.



We passed some kiwi farms (please don't pick them, the sign said, they don't ripen until December!), crossed a river, and walked into the town of Cornellana about 10am. There was a sign that said it was the salmon capital of Spain, and an information board with details about the fish. I thought that was kinda cool, having just done my first salmon fishing in AK the month before. Our noses led us to a bakery, and we got a croissant and a fresh baguette....both still warm. I love finding places like this in small towns.

We got to Salas right about the time the albergue opened. It was a small flat on the ground floor of an apartment building in a residential district, with two rooms, about 16 beds, and a single shower. It was tight, hot, and crowded. There were some very loud people speaking Spanish, and another very loud Italian guy with long hair and a beard. We thought about continuing on because it was only a 19km day so far, but our feet were hurting and we were tired...day 2 is always the toughest day of a hike...so we decided to stay.




We checked in with the really nice hospitalera then went out to a grocery store and got some lunch. When we got back, Kim and Kyle from Oviedo were also there.




We walked around the town some in the evening, ate supper from the grocery store at the table in the Kitchen with Kim and Kyle, and then got to bed pretty early. I had eaten a can of anchovie olives for supper, because I wanted to try them. My dad once told me that anchovies give him heartburn. Apparently it's hereditary. I had a miserable, hot night with jet lag and horrible heartburn...I think I got about 3 hours of sleep. This was definitely not the high point of our trip!

Day 4 Salas to Tineo

I was awake most of the night, so it was easy to get up and get going at 5:30am. It was dark and we were climbing a steep hill in the woods, and I had to use the flashlight to see, but at least it wasn't hot. There was a small waterfall about half a km off the trail that we wanted to see, and had to use the little 250 lumen pocket light to see it (lost my macrostream a few days before the trip so we had to settle for the little Amazon special. It got the job done).




Even after the sun came up it stayed pretty cool, and after the big climb out of Salas we mostly stayed up, so there wasn't a lot of up and down. It was a 20km day again, but it felt a lot easier than the day before.



Tineo is a really cool town. It's set into the side of a hill and all of the main streets run parallel, with alleys cutting up and down between them. The albergue was nice, and the guy running it was awesome. He was still cleaning it when we got there, but he let us leave our bags and gave us directions to a restaurant. We ended up hitting a grocery store, and by the time we got back a few others were showing up. The dude finished cleaning and told us to go ahead and pick beds and he'd be back that evening to check us all in.




Most of the same people from Salas were there. Claudia from Portugal, Gabriel from Italy, Fani from Hungary, Madalyn and Tom from England, Sarah and Andres from Germany, and also Kurt from Germany, Teo and Anna from Spain, and Santiago from Uruguay. Kim and Kyle were also there, and a quiet guy who didn't really talk to anybody.

The albergue was nicely set up, with benches and hammocks outside, and for the first time most seemed content to just hang around the albergue, play games, and talk. The main topic of conversation was what to do the next day. The big “wilderness” push over the Hospitales alpine route was two days out, and it's a 25km day with no services. The albergue in Borres is in a town with nothing else, and has a reputation for being crappy. There are private albergues in the town 3km before that that are nicer, but it adds 3km to an already long hard day. And there's a limited number of beds at the albergue in Berducedo on the other side, so if you're late there's no telling if you'll get one.

Most people decided to reserve a place in Campiello. We decided to brave the poorly reviewed albergue in Borres in exchange for a shorter day.

The evening was spent collecting supplies for the next two days, watching the sunset, and playing pickup sticks and cards in the front yard of the albergue with Kim and Tom.

Day 5 Tineo to Borres

It was a cooler morning and a pretty substantial climb out of Tineo. The sun came up and lit up the valleys below us that were still covered in clouds. It was beautiful. It almost made up for having to come back down again into the same valley that we had just climbed out of. On the AT they call those PUDs…pointless ups and downs.





It was a short day of walking..only 15km, but we added another couple on a side trail to check out the ruined monastery at Obona. It's like 1200 years old and falling apart…you can walk the grounds and get into some of he structure, though, and it's really cool to think what it must have once been like. My favorite part was the massive floor joist beams still lying on the floor in one room.



A little further on we stopped for a break in a little town and got visited by a cat and a dog. The dog was a border collie and was super playful. He'd pick up a pebble, bring it to you and drop it so you'd throw it, then he'd go fetch it and bring it back. I've never played fetch with a pebble before, but it worked for him. The farmer who owned him came out and took us into his dairy operation and gave us a stamp on our credentials. He also recorded our nationalities in a big book…apparently he's got a collection of countries going.

In Campiello we stopped and got a portion of Tortilla (not what it sounds like…theres no taco shell…best description is an egg, potato, onion, and cheese omelette) and hit up the little store for some supper veggies since Borres has nothing but sandwiches in their bar, and being type 1 diabetic I can't eat those. Then we continued on to Borres.

The lady in the bar was super nice and checked us in to the Albergue. It wasn't fancy, but it was clean and there was nothing really wrong with it. Like many Asturian municipal albergues, it was in an old retired school building. It had a couple of bathrooms, screens to keep out the flies from all the cow crap in the area, and a room with bunks. The dreaded triple-bunk with no ladder (for alpinist pilgrims only!) from the online reviews was sadly no longer there.

Shortly after we got there an older lady from Alaska made her way over from the bar. She was super nice, but hand plantar fasciitis so bad that she could hardly walk, and was also type 1 diabetic like me, but really seemed to be struggling with it. Her dexcom kept signalling lows all night, and she kept having to get up to eat. She said she was planning to take it easy and only go 4km the next day in hopes of letting her foot heal. We didn't see her again after that day…I hope she made it. She was really nice.

Sarah and Andres from Germany also decided to brave the hostel, as well as Fani, an English guy named Josh, and the guy who stayed in the corner and didn't talk to anybody. I hadn't spoken to that guy yet, but I told my wife that based off his behavior he was probably Czech! (Inside joke between us…I grew up in the CZ and before I met my wife I was kinda antisocial).

There was nothing else to do, so my wife and I broke out the cards on a picnic table outside and started playing. Eventually Fani and Josh joined and we started teaching each other different games. It was a great time talking and getting to know them, and it really made the rest of the afternoon go by fast.



A couple of portuguese guys showed up late in the evening who we hadn't seen before. They didn't talk much, but they sure could snore. Between them and the lady's CGM alarm going off all night, I didn't sleep much, but I was excited enough for the Hospitales route that it didn't matter.