Oviedo

Day 23
I've been humming and hahing about tomorrow's decision, a silly amount of energy spent on a simple-doesn't-even-really-matter question, namely whether to continue on the Norte route (which I declared my intention to do a couple of days ago) or to start the Primitivo. Preoccupation gets in the way of really living.

Most of the issue was to do with how to best use the week that Luca will be here at the end of the month. Inspired by Petra, (German, sharing a twin room tonight) I have chosen to do the 'Camiño dos Faros' with him, which takes 8 days and follows the north west coast of Galicia, southwards, past its many lighthouses (as the name suggests). A perfect path to do in the time we will have together. https://www.caminodosfaros.com/

So, with so much coastline ahead with Luca, I have now decided-decided to walk the most mountainous, most remote, most natural, and arguably most challenging path. Starting tomorrow. Take a look at the map: I've followed the green route so far, to the tip of the triangle where it meets a yellow and a pink line. The Norte continues northwards (duh) with quite a lot more coast before turning down towards Santiago; the Primitivo, in yellow, goes directly through the hills and joins with the 'Frances' (pink) for a couple of days before Santiago.

Oviedo is a super city, grand, smart, beautifully laid out, although it was a very long hot horrid trafficky road into the centre. It's a noisy city: how to stay whole, open? The city festival this weekend made exploring the streets all the more interesting, especially the many stalls with artisan foods and crafts, and local music performances. Lots of free cheese and meat samples!
I didn't pay to enter the cathedral, but the Iglesia de San Isidoro El Real provided enough overblown decorative intricacy, glorified Madonna statuary and dead Jesuses to satisfy me for another long while. Isn't the icon with the three hands sweet?

I wondered today about how I usually make decisions, and how some things are perhaps best left to routine ... the simplicity of the daily process here is a relief: every day all I have to do is get up and go out, making sure I have enough food and water to keep me healthy. Arrive, wash, eat, sleep, repeat.
I'm not as routinised in home life; I like spontaneity and flexibility. Very much. But it can become lazy, so that I end up with a slower, easier, more indulgent outcome. Mightn't it help me to be a bit more consistent? To let a daily rhythm carry me? Living alone for most of the last 3 years has really shown up my inertia, and my previous reliance on the comfortable assumptions that develop in shared living. I don't have answers. Just a wish to be simpler, to be content, to be free.Okumaya devam et