Tineo to Colinas de Arriba

The weather predictions were dire. In the 90s Fahrenheit for today. And we knew that there was a lot of elevation and no services for the first 13 km. But we brought a lot of water and took a lot of rests, and we were fine.

Charlie didn’t have a great night sleep-wise, so he slept in a little. We were on the road shortly after 8:00, and it was another beautiful off-road walk. We were so grateful for all the shade, and the occasional sunny road stretch was penitential. The views all around were beautiful.

We had a long break in Campiello, home of Herminia’s empire. She wasn’t working, but her husband (?) was behind the bar. He was kind of grumpy but softened up when I told him I had stayed at Herminia’s albergue in 2009. I told him I remembered the breakfast vividly — piles of crusty thick bread slices, fried in oil, and served with several big jars of homemade preserves. I didn’t tell him that when I first saw it, I thought it looked gross. But it was absolutely delicious. Sadly, he told me that they stopped serving that breakfast years ago. Just too much work, he said. Today they have a bigger albergue, a Casa Rural, a bar, and grocery store. They also own the local grass bowling court, but I don’t think that takes much work What a shame about the fried bread— it was really terrific.

From Campiello, it was about 6 more kilometers. Those were hard, it was really hot, there were a couple hundred meters of ascent, and there were some stretches on the side of a sunny road. We got to Colinas de Arriba at about 3, where I had reserved a 3-bed apartment. It has an equipped kitchen, but who wants to carry food for 6 km in 92 F/ 33C heat?! I wanted Charlie to at least see an albergue, and there is a nice one here. We are going to have a communal dinner, which will also be nice.Read more