Avilés

Today was billed as the least interesting day on this 840km walk so we started late and with low expectations. It was very overcast and cool, which suits me. Walking out through the less well off east side of Gijon was interesting. People were starting their day, taking kids to school, opening shops up etc, so not boring. The second section wound around the steel works. After a bit of goggling at lunchtime I established that these are now owned by the Mittal family (India) and make steel rods and high speed rail. The photos don't really show the size and dominance of it in the landscape. Small villages had been all but swallowed up and there was evidence of people living in containers, a very ancient caravan, semi ruined houses and a converted lorry. Rubbish along the street and a film of reddish dust on everything. That soon gave way to a hill, and a second valley, this time the pastoral scene the previous one once was. Fields of grasses and wildflowers for silage and nice second homes. As we neared Avilés where we are staying tonight a second Mittal steel plant and fertiliser plant filled the landscape and we were pushed onto the side of big busy roads. Boring and hard walking but I like industrial landscapes so that part was interesting. There was a large area of company housing which would have been very attractive when it was new and cared for. Apparently this is now part of their industrial heritage with tours.
We stayed in Avilés last year so luckily knew that things would improve as we got into the beautiful old town. The 24.8km of largely run down and desperate looking housing has left me feeling gloomy and very fortunate to not live somewhere like that.Read more