Month: July 2014

Villaviciosa Supplemental

Well fro being a name on a map in a sub optimal place with no campsite Villaviciosa has amazed us
We are in a Two star hotel that does pilgrim rates and it is in a 17thC Palace named after Carlos 1 who came to Spain from Holland in 1512 and this was where he landed. He was heir to qite a bit of Europe and in at the beginning of the Hapsburg dynssty. But he fsce a few revolts from the locals who were not keen on some foriegner from Austria or Holland running the place.
The rooms we have are great Geof is in s sort of half cubicle half fourposter in the room he and Ray and Tony share. Floorboarfs are dark old wood that looks as though it was shaped with an adze.
There are avenues of Magnolia Grandiflora and some large specimens in flower outside the church. All in all a worth while landfall.
Tomorrow there is breakfast and a bread shop that claims to open at 7am

2.07.14 Wednesday Colunga to Villaviciosa.
It starts to rain after 9 pm and continues most of the night. Tim our alarm clock is lulled by it and it is Tony who rouses the troops to a damp dawn. The front hss mostly passed and rain stops while we have coffee and toast in the bar in Calunga.
The route heads a bit inland and rises undulating like a snake in snakes snd ladders to around 200m. Clouds manouvre sluggishly around the hillsides and the air though cool is saturated with moisture. At this point at Priesca we find the oldest church on the route consecrated in 912. It is of course locked. But just as we are about to leave a window opens in a house nect door and it is a safe bet we are being asked if we want to see inside. The ceiing paintings sre obviously original and barely visible, the font at the door shows signs of a millenium or so of use and the thin cut marble windows for light are typical of other ancient churches we have seen in Navarre. It has been maintained and is still in use.
We meet again with Jaques and Kate a French American couple who we lad saw some days ago. Their camino started in Nantes and they are heading up the Camino Primitivo. We may see them again in Santiago or not. Nice people.
We arrive in Villaviciosa before 1300 and get a good 8€ 4 course lunch servef by a waiter eager to practice his English and stagger out to find one of the two hotels that has bombarded us with signs and leaflets along the route. We find the Carlos 1 at under 15 € each including breakfast in two very nice rooms with en suite and wifi. There is even a washing line just outside the window. Pilgrim heaven at special pilgrim rates.
20km and a believable 660m up and down.

Supplemental Jurassic 1.07.14
We learnt this afternoon that this bit of coast is the equivalent of Dorset in the UK. There are a set of dinosaur prints in the rock just down the beach from the campsite. We all troup down to see if they are more convincing than some we saw in the Italian Dolomites. They were and much larger although we could not convince ourselves of the three clawed smsller feet those of diplodicus were convincing. And then Tim found their eggs!!!

1.07.14 Tuesday Ribadesella to Calunga.
It rained in the night, the forcast is for rain but hey its not raining now. But it starts soon and we spend the day in our various wateeproofs. The good news is its not hot so we walk at a fair rate.
The feature of the day is the Horreo, this is a building on stilts common in Gallicia but we have not seen them in Asturias before. Unlike the Gallician long norrow horreo the Asturias betsion is square. Why this should be is the subject of discussion. Opinions vary from, “cos”, to the more erudite, its like “speciation by geographic separation”. Who knows? There are lots but few usef for their traditional purpose of grain or maize storage.
We get to Calunga early but our next documented camping or accomodation is another 18 km away we stumble into a sideria (yes a place selling cider) and discuss the situation Betsy plays her joker and forbids this foolhardiness so we have lunch in an excellent place where Geof charges his phone, Tony eyes up the main electric board behind him and Ray speculates on walking the camino dressed as Xaphod Beeblebrox. We stagger the remaining km and a half down the road to the campsite. The bar in town is open for breakfast at 7am so a light snack for later is obtained from the supermarket and off we go.
20 km not a lot pf up and down