Today started my 6th month, but being only four days out from Santiago de Compostela, I don't plan on chewing into the 6th month very much. The day was much more comfortable temperature wise than yesterday, but the short but steep climbs made the 15 km (9+ mi) seem longer. We left last night's albergue at about 7:45 AM to have breakfast right next door, and we arrived here at Miraz by 11:30 AM.

Our albergue is run by the Confraternity of Saint James, meaning among other things that all the hospitaleros are British. A priest is staying here so there'll be a service at 7:00 PM. Since they didn't open until 3:00 PM, we had a very looong lunch break chitchatting with fellow pilgrims over some beer. Although having only 26 beds, the albergue is spacious, clean, newly painted and well equipped.

Tomorrow will be the last hard day, not because of the 23 km distance, but supposedly because of the climbs--we'll see.

The first pic shows an interesting reflection on the way that occurred  to me to be the metaphor for the Camino itself being full of one's own reflections on life; the second pic shows our backpacks patiently waiting in line; the third is where mass was held this evening; and last are the signs with a traffic mirror that also captured me.

Had to dig out my gloves this morning during 48 deg temp (thank you, Douglas)--they made the first few hours more tolerable. Stayed primarily on the bike trail portion of the Camino, and left at 7:30 AM and arrived at Baamonde by noon--huge and nice hostel here with nearly 100 beds. Again, only gentle climbs made the day a pleasant walk.

Bob and I committed to arriving at Santiago on Saturday the 24th (a day earlier than the last ETA)--that means only 5 remaining days of walking! We plan to stay at a hostel in Santiago called "Roots and Boots." And it's time to make plane reservations in the next few days after we see how our ETA holds up.

You can see the morning fog beyond the small kale field (a common ingredient in Galician Caldo (special, hardy soup) that we had for lunch (except the one at lunch was cabbage based) and also behind the typical Galician cemetery. The next pic shows some pilgrims checking in at the hostel (you need your passport, your pilgrim credentials, and 6€). The final pic is at lunch at the last course with Tarta de Santiago and a shot of liquor in the coffee. We much prefer to eat the big meal at about 2:00 PM, rather than waiting until 8:00 PM or even later for the kitchen to open up again for dinner.

I slowed my pace a bit from yesterday's over the 19 km (11.9 mi) to the albergue at Vilalba. It was an easy walk with partial cloud cover and a range of cool to mid 60s temp. I ended up at the municipal albergue and Bob at a private one (we just missed cues), but I walked over to his place after I got settled and we had a mid-afternoon meal together and coordinated for tomorrow. We're headed to Baamonde at which point we'll be only 94 km from Santiago!

This town of some 15,000 has a character all of its own: hilly; a touch of medieval with a remaining tower that now contains 6 rooms of a parador with a new structure close by as the remaining hotel; 40 to 50 pilgrims staying overnight, since Vilalba is on a major Camino Route (del Norte).

A few pics: a Galician cemetery along the way; motorcycle races 100 meters from our albergue (the left-most building you see); the remaining tower of the old citadel; a jamoneria, where I had to have some jamon iberico (see the hanging hams in the background).

One of the best days in weeks: somehow, not sure how it happened, I got my pace back over a long gentle climb of nearly 1000 feet over a 4 km run and then 1000 more feet for a total 14 km (8.8 mi) distance--a pretty short walk; met a bus, at our break, with a Boston Tour Group (mostly elderly ladies) who just fell in love with us seeing real pilgrims, since they just came from Santiago; then after arriving at our destination of Gontán (a small village of surely less than 1000) experiencing a street market that they hold only twice a month where we ate freshly cooked pulpo (octopus) and churros dipped in chocolate for desert. They even held an animal auction. What a great day! And then a short nap.

The pics: from raw octopus to the man snipping an octopus for our plate and me holding one fresh out of the boiling water; the view out our albergue window down on the street fair and last a street view of the street fair. BTW, the albergue here was completely filled last night. We were here #1 and #2, having left at 7:30 AM (in the dark) and arriving just before noon.

I welcomed today's rain over the short 14.2 km (8.9 mi), knowing it would stop the next three days. Lots of up-/downhill but all decently mild (10% or less). Bob went ahead and we met again at the Cafe on Cathedral Plaza in Mondoñedo near our goal. After a brief pause, we toured the cathedral and museum where I spotted an unusual painting: the descent of Jesus from the cross. Although others have painted the same theme, I think this is the earliest stage of descent I've ever seen painted. Jesus is still on the cross with only one hand freed and they're removing the nail from his second hand. It's a daringly bloody depiction so early in his descent that it focuses on the body and mechanics of freeing it from the cross rather than on the agony of those around him usually shown in other "descent" paintings (see the quad pic). I'd welcome comments.

Although we wanted to stay at a nearby special albergue two km further that was advertised to highlight authentic Galician country life, the Office of Tourism talked us out of it, and another couple of pilgrims that went there and changed their minds corroborated it--supposedly it wasn't recognized as an official albergue--lots of hype--no rules! Anyhow, the municipal albergue here rates as one of the best: elevators, handicapped equipped, spacious and clean. Now at 5:00PM it's only 1/3 filled.

With a 7:30 AM start and leaving a town of around 10,000, Bob and I figured we'd find breakfast. No such luck! Walked the 19 km only to find an albergue we both wanted to pass on--the shower, the toilet, and sink were in little outhouses. And besides, the little village had no store and no place to eat. We found a better albergue just a few km down the road with 16 beds and a restaurant and bar. Looking forward to some good Galician food.

The temp. has dropped into the 50s but the rain will stop for a while after tomorrow. We have only about a week to go, this being our first full day in Galicia. We're looking forward to tomorrow's 6-bed albergue whose advertising we found at the one we passed up--picture attached. We get to experience authentic Galician country life!

Today was extremely easy but also the most frightful aspect of my entire trip (equally so for Bob my walking buddy). We had only to cover 10 km (6.3 mi) under the threat of rain that didn't materialize for me until after I arrived at our Hostal Galicia in Ribadeo. My problem started when my bicycle path took a huge detour that I wanted to avoid, so I chose to walk a little over a mile along the A-8 Freeway--a HUGE no-no. I managed that, all the while rehearsing my story for the police that were surely going to stop me, but I arrived unscathed at the bridge crossing a deep and wide estuary that lead into Ribadeo.

This crossing was one of the most hair-raising experiences in my life: walking into a 40-knot wind (look at the wind sock in the top photo) in a 3-foot wide lane bounded on my left with a six-foot high fence grating and to my right with a railing only waste high. The wind was blowing me side to side--my poncho became a sail--and I imagined it blowing me over the railing and down into the estuary over 100 feet below! I carried both poles in my right hand so as to free my left one to grab the grating in case I was about to lose my footing. My head was looking down at my feet the whole time, lest I step on something that would cause me to stumble! Bob had the same experience, except some two hours later because he didn't venture the freeway shortcut and found himself walking an extra 12 km.

Luckily it all ended well. Good Pension (Hostal), great meal at lunch, accomplished chores with cell phone Internet extension, bank, and grocery shopping for tonight and tomorrow's breakfast. And tomorrow we start heading southwest through the autonomous community of Galicia in Spain with rain expected for the next two days.

First day in a long time I wore my pancho the entire 20 km (12.5 mi) during drizzling rain, but the good side was the absence of any steep climbs. Leaving Navia in the dark on a long gentle climb was the hardest, but a nice coffee break afterwards rewarded the effort.

I reached our albergue (donativo--donation only, which translates to about 5€) at about 12:30, while Bob beat me by an hour and he had already gone to the information office to get the key. We got settled and had the luxury again to have lunch as the big pilgrim's meal at about 2:00 PM with lentil soup for course 1, fried sardines and salad for course 2, and rice and creamy milk for desert, along with wine--all for 10€ (about 11 USD).

The ocean view from the albergue is breathtaking as you can see from the posted pictures. The top picture is taken about 200 meters before reaching the albergue and the lower one just catches our building. It's nearly 6:00 PM, and our 20-bed hostel still has 5 or 6 beds vacant.

Today may have been the last of the dry days with rain forecast for the next three days! Covered 19 km (11.9 mi) of moderate hills--only burning a bit the last hour. We both arrived a little after noon, so we took advantage of the earliness and enjoyed a super-sized lunch and then skipped supper. No albergue here in Navia, so we're staying at Pension Cantabria for 20€ each--a nice treat again.

Navia (pop. 9,000) is undoubtedly an old fishing village and still has a port with a small dry dock and a marina with smaller power boats. It looks like a sleepy little town with not much going on.

I'm still infatuated with the hórreos and their various incarnations as you can see in the picture, as well as Spanish villas that always have one or more palm trees at their side. And then there's the suspended interstate highway way above me. I also captured the rough backwoods trail that Bob took as a "shortcut" for part of the way and I decided to bypass taking the bicycle route instead; my tendinitis would have screamed for help at this incredibly steep stony portion!

While doing my 29 km. (18.1 mi) with relative ease--no big ascents--I never even thought about today being the 15th anniversary of that unforgettable 9/11 terrorist act. It took our daughter's Chris's email to remind me of it. It also shows how the Camino demands of us to focus on it to the exclusion of everything that isn't in our field of view.

Today was marked with more glimpses of the ocean, more typical hórreos (those grain storage structures, none of which were functional), and more typically Spanish houses with several palm trees, striking bright colors, and blooming plants, as well as the interstate freeway floating high above us. Some of these I've captured in these pics.

It never made it above the 60s during my walk today with Bob, as we covered the 18 km (11.3 mi). AND, from here, Muros de Nalón, it'll be only 300 km to Santiago de Compostela--that's not much compared to the 2637 km that I've actually walked thus far. We basically took the bicycle route to be kind to my Achilles' tendon and plan to continue that for the rest of the journey, some 15 or so days.

The eucalyptus tree, according to Wikipedia, is the town tree. But I've noticed along my walk the last week or so many eucalyptus trees and have wondered about their story. It turns out they were planted post WW II mainly for paper pulping. But in Spain environmentalists complain that eucalyptus is crowding out indigenous forests of native oak and beech in Galicia and La Coruna. Ecologists say that traditional rural lifestyles, while not as profitable, provide more employment. By one study, an Iberian olive grove requires 199 worker-days per hectare (2.47 acres) to maintain each year, vineyards 128 worker-days and a eucalyptus plantation four worker-days. So there you have it and here's a picture of one along the path:

Heaven today--a down-day going from Gijón to Avilés by train for just 1.90€ to cover 24 km (15 mi). Bob and I arrived at our albergue at 10:00 AM and had 3 hrs to enjoy a bit of the city but mostly the exhibits at the Niemeyer Cultural Center. The exhibit, "Seeking shelter for my children," was a photojournalist collection of deeply touching pictures of the refugees captured by Javier Bauluz. Having met and talked with a number of aid workers in Germany and France involved in the effort of helping the refugees, I felt closer to the crisis than before my walk.

Rest for the remainder of the day is doing wonders for the body. Am trying to keep the days down to 25 km, but that's not always easy and it will stretch the schedule out a bit. Even at 25 km, it seems that the extreme hills take their toll.

Bob took a picture of me at my bunk in a bay of 40 stacked beds--so far not too crowded, maybe half filled at 4:00 PM.

It was a hard 27 km (17 mi) that started out with a 90-minute climb I thought would never end. There were a succession of climbs, and downhills, and luckily the day was relatively cool.

At breakfast five of our group went separate ways: Lisa and Susanne headed down the Primitivo, Hildegard by bus started her journey to Diva, and Bob and I headed to Gijón. We had arranged to meet at a restaurant about 5 km before Gijón, but he never made it--his guide book just didn't do the trick compared to electronic technology. I waited at the restaurant for three hours, then gave up and headed to our hotel. Luckily he arrived at the hotel in Gijón just twenty minutes after I did! We won't do this again, pitting paper against electronics.

At the restaurant, I rehydrated with mineral water and ended up having a special regional dish of squid (see picture).

The early fog and low-hanging clouds kept the weather cool for most of the21.7 km (13.6 mi), but the BIG hills today heated me up as if it were in the 90s. My burning tendinitis was unrelenting. I've been resting all afternoon. That is after I had my phone fixed (SIM card passcode from my carrier) and chores done.

The reward for the big hills was another super albergue in the middle of town. Lots of room around my bunk, clean and good amenities. At the reception, I was greeted with a glass of orange juice--how cool is that?

Had to include a great fixer-upper as potential investment property and a few pictures of the path, one quite a bit under the freeway system, and a picture of city hall here in Villaviciosa. The last two are from dinner tonight with the five of us and me pouring cider that's available almost everywhere.

Two ladies, Lisa and Susanne, are peeling off tomorrow to go on the Primitivo, and Bob (retired Air Force) and I are continuing on. Hildegard is also leaving to go by bus ahead to Santiago. We'll try to meet up in Santiago and celebrate.

Walked again with Erich from Salzburg today, only part of the 18.6 km (11.6 mi)--what a blast. He has quite the view of life, perhaps influenced by earning great wealth by the age of 26, then traveling the world and squeezing in a Camino or two in all that. He's also experienced death at least three times, going to the other side: the bright light and incredible force! Has studied with Tebetan monks, Hinduism, on and on. It was an interesting day, to say the least. His is an easy come easy go attitude. A few kilometers before my goal, we parted, he deciding to go a bit further.

La Isla was rather remote, but most of our group arrived there. No restaurants near, so we all used a nearby local market to create our own version of dinner.

Some interesting sights along the way today. Many home owners creatively use flowers to decorate their landscape around the house. The colors in this homescape stopped me in my tracks. Then, the hórreos started appearing right and left. They're a typical granary found in the Northwest of Spain (Galicia and Asturias)--we're still in Asturias. Views of the ocean or walking next to the beach were real treats.

The only down side was that my phone carrier locked my SIM card and I didn't have a PIN. So I was forced to go without cell and internet until the next day when I can stop by the Orange store.

I posted that I was alone last night until nearly 9:00 PM, but then an Austrian from Salzburg joined me. Nice fellow (pic incl), and I thought I had bad bedbug bites, well his were an order of magnitude worse mainly on his back. He had already discarded 1000€ worth of equipment because he claimed that that was the only solution. So now he has a small day pack. BTW, the town had a music celebration that lasted until five in the morning--made for a real interrupted night of sleep--oh well!

Leaving Llanes, we saw beautiful ocean views. I struggled with the 29.7 km (18.6 mi) and concluded that it's my limit with tendinitis burning the last hour. Will try to hold the distances down to 25 km (15.6 mi). Beautiful day in 70s with cloud cover and three or four nice breaks, but didn't get in until after 4:00 PM. At the destination, I was floored at how nice the albergue is: right next to the ocean, they have a three-story building with lots of two double-bunk bed rooms overlooking the ocean, for 19.80€ including breakfast. The very first thing I did was wade in the ocean to cool off my feet and ankles. Then I encountered many of the old group and had a beer/coffee together on the premises. We'll try to have breakfast together downstairs at 7:00 AM then do a shorter walk.

I reclaimed my "aloneness" today by leaving my group. They elected to go to a destination slightly ahead, and I felt like stopping earlier at Llanes, in fact, at the first promising place, which turned out to be an albergue (15€) that is an adjunct to a hotel. It's quite large and seems to have 8 rooms, each with about 4 double-bunks. At 8:30 PM, I'm still the only one here.

It was an easy day: 21.9 km (13.7 mi), breakfast within 30 minutes of starting, only high 70s, lots of cloud cover, and not too much climbing. Most of the route was within a kilometer of the ocean, glimpses of which appeared now and then. The coastal mountains were off to my left, as I captured in one pic.

I was settled and had my chores done by 2:00 PM, so I was able to take a two-hour nap that I hadn't had in days. Toward evening I walked into town about a half mile and looked around. I ended up getting groceries and eating here at the albergue.

Llanes is celebrating (all year) its 500-year jubilee with banners everywhere. Lof people were out and many seemed like tourists. On the bridge in the town center, I saw bows tied on that marked anniversaries--that was new for me (BTW, locks seem to be out--they get removed!).

Today I left the Albergue at 8:30 AM, somewhat later than usual and arrived at the Colombres Albergue at nearly 5:00 PM--lots of beds available and no wait to check-in. The walk of 28.4 km ( 17.8 mi) had a good share of up and down hills, and although tired, I managed especially since the weather was overcast and only in the high 70s.

Today's headline story was the many cases of bedbug attacks, at least that's what the consensus seems to be. My attack was two days ago, whereas most others were last night, including the Spanish lady whose picture of her arms I took and posted it along with my feet on FB. I include that picture here. There have been at least half a dozen other folks that have had similar complaints.

Another observation is the Camino waymarkers here in Asturias. They're quite pretty and easily spotted (see the picture).

An easy 19.6 km (12.3 mi) got me to the next 16-bed albergue where I again saw many of the old familiar faces. Today I can comfortably say that I'm coming home this month. On the way out a block away, I stopped for breakfast and had to take a picture of the newly prepared pinchos. The other three pictures of the baroque church Iglesia de San Martín, en Cigüenza fascinated me how it just appeared over the horizon.

Mostly gently rolling hills except for brief periods of steep ascents moved me along the way. At Comillas, we encountered one of the last crowded vacation beaches. The picture I took includes a beach with rip currents and warnings against swimming, but the one next to it had many bathers.

I suffered an attack of itching last night on toes and arms and couldn't figure out what had caused it until today: probably a mix of bed bugs on the toes and heat rash and flying insects on the arms. Some others had also complained about the bedbugs! I bought more cream thinking that my Cortizone-10 Plus had lost some effectiveness because it's been subjected to heat. It was a miserable couple of hours and tonight is starting out itchy again.

The upper two pics of the second quad are the albergue and the lower two are of the Comillas church both exterior and interior.

A number of us took Father Ernesto's advice at the Güemes Albergue to take the local train out of the industrial part of Santander up to Mogro. So I rode the train for 13.1 km (8.2 mi) and walked the remainder of 16.3 km (10.2 mi) through moderate rolling hills. The weather was comfortable in the low 70s and the path was along small country roads.

Since I was nearly last to leave the albergue, I expected my compatriots to all be here when I arrived, there was only one familiar face and one came later. Now at 6:30 PM, the albergue has long filled its 16 beds. So I'm not sure where they are--but that happens on the Camino.

Now for the surprise: In Jean Sartre's philosophical novel "La Nausée", Sartre described Santillana as the prettiest village in Spain ("le plus joli village d'Espagne")--I quote Wikipedia. After walking up and down the few streets, I tend to agree, but the town has become a little kitschy with the many stores trying to sell tourists their souvenirs--as, by the way, has Santiago become, or all beautiful destinations, for that matter. The pics I include are all from Santillana, the first being the Colegiata, a Romanesque church and former Benedictine monastery and the others being a sample of the medieval flavor of Santillana. I could have posted a dozen more, but these will do.