Salas to Tineo

I knew we would have only three days to walk, so I thought long and hard about which pieces to pick. We want to get close to Pola de Allande on our last day, to see another good friend of David’s, and I’m hoping we can walk Hospitales. So it just made sense to skip ahead from Oviedo and start a few days in. And Gronze agreed with me, giving this description to the stage we just walked today: “Primera de las tres etapas que definen el carácter y esencia del Camino Primitivo.”

We took a taxi to Salas, had a coffee, and off (or more accurately, up) we went a little after eight. It’s really a beautiful walk. Classic hilly, green Asturian countryside, frequently with the mountains in the background.

I am so proud of Charlie and so happy with how well this first day went. There were a few mild complaints when we started out, but he quickly got into the flow and only said he was going to die about four times, but always in jest. He’s never done anything like this, and it wasn’t always easy, but we had a great walk. 21 km may not sound like much to my hard-core Camino friends, but with about 650 m elevation gain, it was not a walk in the park. Luckily virtually all of this stage is off-road, and a huge majority was shaded.

I had predicted a 4 PM arrival, and I was way off. We were checking in to the hotel at a little after 2:30. We had stopped for a drink in La Espina, and then a couple of hours later took a lunch break with some sandwiches we had bought there. Lots of water was consumed, because it is hot.

There is a medieval festival out in the main Square. I don’t think we will be partaking of many of the festivities, but there should be some good food around.Read more