Otur

Good day, with a stop at 9 for coffee, and then a few hours to enjoy the former fishing village, current tourist town of Luarca.

I am really impressed at how much of the camino has been moved off road. We had very little pavement and even though we didn't spend much time on the coast, there were lots of forest paths with occasional glimpses of ocean.

A Brit, Chinese, Australian and American walk into a bar... surely there is a good joke here. I first met Alan as Paco and I were leaving Oviedo to return to the Norte. About an hour in, we kept catching glimpses of a guy a bit ahead of us and when we got close enough to talk, learned he thought he was on a different Camino. When we got to Avilés, we pointed him to the bus station and thought that was goodbye. Next day at our coffee break, who do we see but Alan!

Percy is Chinese, a young guy studying Spanish in Barcelona. His English and Spanish are flawless. Though I've had many Chinese students, I've never felt comfortable asking them too many questions, but Percy welcomes them. We are all learning a lot about China. Ann, a retired school administrator, is about 7 years my senior. She is kind and calm. Her asthma keeps her a bit behind but she wants to walk alone anyway so we all just meet up at the end. There you have it, our little band of four.Read more