Day 33 - Luarca to La Caridad
Date: Wednesday July 17
Start: Luarca, Asturias
End: La Caridad, Asturias
Daily Mileage: 19.28mi (31km)
Total Mileage: ~389mi (~626km)
Today we woke to another beautiful day. The air was a bit cool as we stepped outside – nice and refreshing. This would be short lived, but it was nice while it lasted. After a cafe stop for Spanish tortilla and coffee, we climbed out of Luarca.
Just as yesterday we had descended steeply into the town, today we would ascend steeply back out the opposite side of Luarca, walking up the cobbled streets, stopping for photos of the town below en route.
Having hit the road much earlier today than yesterday – around 8:30am – we saw a number of groups of pilgrims spread out along the road early on, mostly in pairs. So this is when everyone starts hiking. Not 10am, as we did yesterday.🤣
Most of the pairs were click-clacking their way down the pavement with trekking poles. One of them drug their poles along the pavement between each click and clack. How is this helping you?
Today we actually passed by someone that was not only using trekking poles, but also had a second set tucked away in the side pocket of their bag. Back up poles for this pesky pavement. Probably wearing the tips down to the nub.
I don’t care that people are using poles, but it would be nice if they put the rubber tips on so they weren’t so annoying to listen to. /Soapbox
Today was fairly similar to the last several days. A lot of paved roads through small towns and rural areas, gravel roads and paths through farmland and bits of woodland and fields, and the occasional stretch of dirt singletrack trail. There were some pretty bits and generally nice views, but nothing super exciting.
Most of the terrain was easy walking – flat or with gradual easy rollers. There were a few steeper climbs, but they were mostly pretty short. Though the topography of the day felt pretty easy, in total we did have an elevation gain over 2200 feet, so that isn’t exactly nothing I suppose when you cover 19+ miles, elevation is bound to start adding up.
Through the morning, we passed several of the grain storage structures we mentioned yesterday - paneras and horreos. Some were decrepit and crumbling. Some were well loved and still in use. And some were for sale! Get ya panera while it’s hot! This deal won’t last for long!
We walked by churches, railroads, fields, and wildflowers. And we walked by so so so many hydrangeas. This must be the most common flower in all of northern Spain.
We were also very lucky to walk by several water fountains today, which was nice, because it was very hot.
We tramped along all morning, walking through the town of Piñera a little under 8 miles into our day, where we passed a small roadside cafe. We PASSED UP the opportunity for a late-morning fizzy water and decided to continue on to Navia, the next major town, before stopping for lunch. This was a hot stretch and, growing hungry in the last couple of miles, we were each counting down the tenths of miles until we could acquire a meal.
Of course, this meant that we were arriving quite hungry. By the time we walked into town, Shawn had already searched out a well-rated restaurant along the river, not far off the route. Fancy-ish, we decided, upon entering. Should people in smelly hiker clothes eat at fancy places? We think so.
Arriving just after 1pm, we made sure they were serving lunch. “Es posible comer?” It’s possible to eat? we asked as we entered, everyone else in the restaurant only chatting over coffees or other drinks. The man checked his watch, tossed his head back and forth a little, thinking about it. “Si,” he said. YES. Settling into the white-table-cloth establishment, we went all in.
Soon enough, a feast lay before us. Shawn had ordered a special kind of cochopo that was made with hake (a white fish), which was absolutely delicious. I had ordered a salad, which turns out it was for sharing (with two+ people - thankfully Shawn had a little) as well as octopus with padron peppers. I actually ordered scallops, but was informed in very rapidly spoken Spanish that they could not do the scallops right now and, after a bit of confusion and order changing, I ended up with octopus. At any rate, everything was very tasty.
And, since we were at it... why not finish with dessert and coffee, like civilized diners? We got cheesecake and coffees. And then, when any normal Spanish person would saunter off for a little siesta, it was time for us to hike another six miles.
Crossing the Ria de Navia
Having descended into Navia, we would have to climb back out again. A theme for coastal cities. After the climb out, most of the afternoon was pretty ho hum. Easy walking. Pavement. Hydrangeas. Fields. Corn. Some picturesque rolling green mountainsides in the distance.
Looking back over Navia
We had not seen Andy today and were now wondering whether or not he was still on the Camino. When we had last spoken and hiked with him a bit a couple days ago (on our long day to Cadavéu), he was questioning whether or not he was going to continue. He had been finding this last stretch a little boring – and certainly, it wasn’t the most exciting of the sections. Especially compared to the first couple weeks along the coast. For him, with several dietary restrictions, the monotony of his dining choices was also likely getting to him. He was considering spending a few weeks doing something else before his flight to the US, his next hop, which was in early August.
Having told him about our brief jaunt along the CDT, running out of steam/motivation on that particular trail, and our switch to the Camino, he had asked us how we had known/decided when it was time to ‘throw in the towel’, so to speak, and change direction. At the time, we didn’t know that he was thinking about leaving the Camino – that wasn’t mentioned until later in the day. At that point it became pretty clear that he was thinking about it quite a bit.
It’s certainly possible that he’s still on the Camino. People stay in different towns and start at different times, and you could go days without crossing paths with someone that is only a half a mile from you. We’ve never exchanged any contact information with him, so we really have no way of knowing unless we run into him again.
When we hiked the PCT in 2018, we met a guy named Conflicted (trail name). Shawn had met him briefly in the desert when Conflicted was trying to pawn off a ziplock of cooked mash potatoes onto basically anyone that would take them. He had brought too much food for that section and didn’t want to carry all the extra weight. It was also far more instant mashed potatoes than any reasonable human would want to consume. Though his interaction with Conflicted with short, it was enough to know that the guy fairly annoying. Which other hikers had also mentioned. “Have you met Conflicted?” The question was accompanied by eyerolls.
I didn’t officially meet this guy until Kennedy Meadows, where I learned that he could talk and talk and talk and talk. Very opinionated. Never shut up. We made the mistake of sitting at the same picnic table as him there and after listening to him go on and on and watching his hands shake as he drank his coffee, I told him he should lay off the caffeine.
This was when he informed me, and the rest of the table, that he actually had a nervous system disorder. Obviously, I felt like a massive jerk and apologized. He wasn’t offended. He said, people don’t know, and he was fine telling us about it. None of this changed the fact that he was very annoying, though. Luckily we didn’t usually end up being around him on the hike... but when we did see him in town or elsewhere, he was the kind of guy we tried to avoid.
Fast forward to seeing him a few times along the trail and finally realizing that the best way to deal with him was to dish his medicine right back. Be very direct. Speak our minds. Tell him to be quiet so you could get a word in. Conflicted may have been annoying, but he was also self aware enough to know he was annoying. Sometimes you just had to tell him to shut up. This didn’t offend him, he actually appreciated it. And so, Conflicted went from abhorred to tolerated to someone that really grew on us. We learned how to best socialize with him and I think he appreciated us being very direct with him. Later we would just laugh when we ran into him, happy to see him (at least for a little bit).
It’s funny, really, how people can grow on you. We certainly never found Andy annoying, but when we first met him, we thought – between the tick symbiosis and Zambian prison stories – this guy is a little out there. Super nice, though, and after meeting him several more times and having some good chats along the trail, we looked forward to running into him. He was interesting and easy to talk to and miles seemed to go by quickly when we were in his company. Anyway, we hope Andy decided to stay on the trail, but we may never know unless we run into him!
Walking along after lunch, it was hot. Though the actual temperature was only 74ºF (23.3ºC), it felt much hotter. As we hiked along, we hid in any available shade, including narrow patches thrown by corn stalks or hedges along the trail/road when we were lucky. Some exposed sections stretched on before us.
With only six miles from lunch until our stopping point for the day, the rest of the walk passed fairly quickly and a little before 4:30pm, we were heading into the town of La Caridad. We walked down the main street, passing by a small plaza, a church, and an electronics store that sold radios from what looked to be every decade since they were invented. The town was mostly quiet in the late afternoon hours, though a few teenagers loitered in the plaza in front of a cafe.
Our hotel was toward the other end of town – another cheerful Casa Rural. The owner was so sweet. Upon walking in, seeing that we were pilgrims and establishing that we had made the long trek from Luarca today, he asked if we would like a beer. No, no. A soda? No, no. We finally agreed to an agua con gas (pull my leg), which he brought with glasses of ice. So kind.
On the check-in counter, there was an autographed copy of him with Miguel Indurian, a (now retired) Spanish professional road racing cyclist. We commented on it and told him that we liked to cycle/were cycling fans. He told us all about the signed photo.
He spoke in clear Spanish, asking us all about the Camino. We told him that we had started on June 15. A month ago – which he thought was very good time. We said we were taking it ‘tranquilo’, taking rest days in many of the cities – which he thought was exactly the way to do it. I also explained to him that every time we stop for a rest day, it rains. But when we are hiking, it is very hot. He agreed that they had been getting a lot of rain. Then he showed us a map of the town, explaining where the restaurants were and any other services we might need. We always feign great interest during these map discussions, but in some cases (like today) we have no intention on leaving the room again.
After chatting and finishing the check-in, he showed us to our room, which is exactly where we stayed for the rest of the night.
I’ll just be here.
After settling in, I had a nice long video chat with my mom, who caught me up on all the family happenings and the Chicago - Earth, Wind, & Fire concert she went to over the weekend with friends. I also learned about her new map…
Before Shawn and I left for the CDT, I had given my mom a National Geographic map of the route, hanging it on a door in the kitchen so she and my father could see where we were hiking. When we left for the Camino, the CDT map was still hanging on the basement door. I told her she could take it down, lol. I only learned today that she replaced the map with a map of Spain and has been circling the cities as we go through them, which I love. 💛
Tomorrow is the last hiking day of a six-day stretch and we are looking forward to taking a rest day in Ribadeo. The owner at our hotel here even told us exactly which beach we should go to there. WILL WE ACTUALLY GET A BEACH DAY? Tomorrow we will also cross into Galicia, the final region of the Camino!