Oviedo

Day 23 Oviedo
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 on 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 'O Camiño dos Faros' with him, which takes 8 days and follows the north west coast of Galicia, 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 (fewest made up paths) and arguably most challenging Camino. 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 noisy trafficky road into the centre. 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 though?

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 usually, especially when there is no appointment to get up early for. I like spontaneity and flexibility, very much. But it can become lazy, so that I end up with a slowest, easiest, less challenging, more indulgent outcome. Mightn't it help me to be regular, a bit more consistent? To not have to make a decision about the ordinary things again and again, but let a daily rhythm carry me? Living alone for a lot of the last 3 years has really shown up my inertia, and my previous reliance on the comfortable assumptions that develop in shared living. Do you know what I'm on about? I don't have answers. Just a wish to be simpler, to be content, to be free.Read more