Villaviciosa

Ok this was another very long day, almost 40. But it was beautiful and included a surprise visit inside another pre-Romanesque church.

I left Ribadesella around 7 and a few hours later passed the donativo albergue in Vega. What a great spot, with a pretty beach down the road. It looked like a great place to stay, but I had only been walking for a couple of hours. Bad timing on my part. But I did have the good luck of meeting Sam and Barbara, a mother son pair from Austin, and we wound up walking together all day.

No off-camino coastal alternatives today, but the camino took you along the coast a fair amount. More gorgeous sea views. In the town of Isla we turned inland, and after Colunga there were st least 10-12 up and down kms through the countryside. At some points there were mountains on your left and ocean on your right.

After taking a boots off rest after Colunga and despairing of ever finding a bar to get something cold to drink, we walked into Priesca. In this tiny little hamlet, there was a stunning new albergue La Rectoral right across the way from the 10C pre-Romanesque church. The albergue had a soda machine and the church windows were making us wish we could get inside. But the Spanish woman nearby told us to go ask somewhere else for the keys. I think she heard Sam and me talking about the beautiful windows and how much we wished we could see the interior, and suddenly she found that she had a set of keys. Wow is all I can say. It was great.

From there the 10 or so km to Villaviciosa were pretty much a slog, but we have made it, have walked around town and had dinner, and are headed to bed. I am sorry to say that Sam and Barbara will be heading in a different direction tomorrow because we had a lot of fun today!Read more