Villaviciosa to El Berron - rain!

Oh my goodness what a first day!
We intended to leave by 6 but when we looked out of the window to see it was pitch dark and pouring with rain we decided to delay a little - just until we could see a bit. Finally left at about 6.30 in full wet weather gear - poncho, waterproof trousers and gaiters for me. My shoes are waterproof and behaved brilliantly so that was a relief.
Finding out way out of Villaviciosa was tricky even in the semi light - the yellow arrows indicating the camino were very sparse and there was no way we’d have been able to do it in the dark.
Finally out of the town and getting light, the countryside was beautiful even in the pouring rain. But walking in full rain gear means you just don’t see or hear as much, and also getting my phone out to take photos is a performance so not many pictures today.
Having left at 6.30 we were getting quite hungry by 9.30/10 but there was absolutely nowhere to eat until after 11 - just countryside and deserted villages and closed bars. And it was so steep - much worse than going over the Pyrenees last year. As steep but for much much longer.
Finally found a fantastic bar in La Carcabada. It didn’t look too promising from the outside but inside it was great - best tortilla ever, great coffee and a cup of green tea - all I could wish for. I can’t tell you how good tortilla tastes after nearly 20k of walking in the rain.
After that, feeling revived, we continued on - much less steep, a few small towns, quite a lot of mud but with the rain beginning to ease a bit it was definitely an improvement on the first half.
This was always going to be a long day as we had planned to keep tomorrow shorter so as to allow for time to look round Oviedo. However it did feel very long - we didn’t arrive until about 3.45 after having walked a total of 33.5 k.
Hotel is good and very comfortable which is a relief.
Many many horses today - I could have supplied horse of the hour rather than horse of the day! Also happy looking cows and calves, a peacock, lots of chickens and sheep and some very sad dogs. It breaks my heart how they treat dogs here. But I can’t think about that too much or I’ll get upset again.
Despite being ravenously hungry there was no food for vegetarians in El Burron tonight. The restaurants and bars were either completely closed (it’s Monday) or open but the kitchens were closed or had absolutely no options for vegetarian. So we bought bread and cheese and avocado from the supermarket, washed down with a carton of gazpacho (and proceeded by a very nice glass of of Albariño for €2.60 - which seems to be standard round here). All good - I’m not hungry an y more thank goodness. Now ready for sleep.Läs mer