Avilés to Muros del Nalón

We sleep in this morning, there is no need to rush, we don’t have to be out of here until 12 noon. We sleep in until 9:00 am then rise n shine and start getting ready for our day, slowly. We check out and start heading to the train station at around 11:30am, we get side tracked on the way there, by a bar which we stop at for a cafe con leche, we sit back, taking in our surroundings, this is a very busy town, that is full of people everywhere, this is the first really busy town at this hour of the morning that we have encountered. We finish up and continue on, we walk down one of the main streets packed with shops and people, when we get to the bottom and it has flattened out, we come across market stalls that take up the entire next block, we meander our way through, nothing really taking our eye, our packs are already heavy and we both know how one more thing can change your pack from being manageable to debilitating. We finally make it to the train station. We encounter a very helpful train attendant that points us in the right direction for what we need, the next helpful train attendant helps us purchase our tickets to Muros del Nalon, she tells us what train to watch out for, that it will be roughly 45mins wait and that we need to be on platform 2. We go, take a seat and wait patiently for our train to arrive. Meanwhile trains come and go, people hop on and off. A lovely older lady sits down beside us, it starts thundering and she is talking to her friend and Lisa about it, we strike up a very broken Spanish/English conversation, by the end she knows we are from Australia and that we are catching the train to Muros del Nalon. The train attendant comes down to us to let us know our train will be arriving any minute now, we thank her very much, next minute a train pulls in to platform 1 and our lovely older lady friend tells us that this is our train, we follow her instruction, hoping nothing got lost in translation 🤞. We board and take a seat, she lets us know that she will let us know when we have to get off and she sits close by with her 4 friends. We feel very looked after and fortunate to have crossed paths with these lovely women. The train ride takes about an hour, true to her word she lets us know when we need to get off, we bid each other goodbye and thank her very much. We step off the train and into rain with a little bit of thunder, our accommodation is roughly 1.2 km away and we set off hoping not to get too wet before we get there. Our walk takes us through the main square in town and out the other side, our accommodation is in a rural setting, we arrive, check in, then head down to the bar for lunch. The waiter informs us that the chef has gone to hospital and that he can make us a salad but no cooking, we both have a salad with some fresh, warm bread and chilled wine. We spend what is left of the afternoon talking, relaxing and sorting through our packs. At dinner time we head to the square for dinner, nothing is open, a neighbouring village is on fiesta so they are all off partying. We get some microwaveable meals take them back to our hotel and get our lovely waiter to heat them up for us. He not only heats it up but serves it to us in lovely bowls. After dinner we call it a night, but sleep evades us, the sounds and excitement of a nearby fiesta envelopes us and we are caught in this Spanish way of life life for another night….Read more