San Vicente de la Barquera to Pechon

Blue skies for days is what we see as we open the shutters to reveal the day. We leave this hospederia at 10 am, we have a smile on our faces and a spring in our step. The countryside is extra beautiful today and the ‘Picos de Europa’ in the background is simply stunning (the photos just don't do it justice and they look like they are a million miles away, but in reality this isn't so). Not long into our walk, we are overtaken by a group of lovely young pilgrims, they pass us by with a “Buen Camino!”, they will be the only pilgrims we will see today. Our walk is on asphalt roads all the way. We pass through a few small villages and it's surprising how many homes we have come across on our northern walk that are under construction, the cement framework is complete but that's it. This day is heating up and we come to a bar right on the side of a busy main road and decide it's time for a drink, all the chairs in the shade are taken, so sunshine it is, it's still good to get off these feet. We enjoy our drinks and plot out our last section of today's walk (we are going off Camino as we couldn't get any accommodation on the trail). This means walking on a road where drivers may not be used to keeping an eye out for pesky pilgrims! To start with we cross over a bridge, and as we do so we watch some stand-up paddleboarders paddling up a very muddy-looking river. We then cross over a busy road and are now on a narrow, winding coast road that will lead to a beach and campground. Oh, this is going to be fun (2.5 km of holding your breath and hoping the next car isn't going to be the one to take you out). Only 1 person yells at us, I don't understand what she says, but I am pretty confident it's something not very nice. Well we make it to a lookout, take some pretty pictures then continue on, we now have a walking track on the side of the road, that runs the rest of the way to Pechon. We get into town, lunch is finished, the supermarket has closed for siesta. We settle into some comfy seats at the bar and we order some tapas consisting of small bite-size bread with regional cheese, walnuts and honey, they are yummy, we pair these with a lovely bottle of Rioja, this combo ties us over until we cook dinner tonight. Once siesta is over, we hit the supermarket and get ingredients to make spaghetti carbonara, we both miss and look forward to a home-cooked meal, and this goes down a treat, we go to bed with full bellies in a red wine haze...Read more