< Norte Day 13 — Norte Day 15 > < Norte Index >
20 kilometers, 6 hours, passing through Póo, Celorio, Barro, Naves, Villahormes, and Nueva.
We were up and out at dawn as usual. But the sunrise and its smattering of fluffy red clouds definitely warmed this soul. Llanes is spectacular, the kind of town that is a lot of good things: just the right size, with most everything one needs. It’s right on the coast, with a beautiful port and many lovely boats in the small marina. Lots of nice restaurants, wonderful older homes, and many newer apartment buildings lined the streets. I liked the feel of the place.
More coast walking; several small beaches and a few surfers. If you are into surfing a private little stretch of water, this coastline is the place to be. Some towns have surf schools and idyllic beaches, the water full of folks. But there are quiet, out of the way places, too.
Surprising for a Sunday, at an open market I bought their last two avocados. Delightfully, estan maduros, they were ripe. Maybe they would be dinner that night. Pría had no, no, no nothing, only a pub, which apparently differs from a bar because it had no food short of a few bags of chips.
During my previous Camino in 2016 on the Via de la Plata, I had met and trekked along with Fernando, a man from Asturias who told me many times that I needed to visit his beautiful part of Spain. That it was muy bonita, very pretty. When we entered Asturias, I posted to Facebook that I was there and asked the name of the town where he lived. Fernando is always out hiking with friends, so he didn’t see my post until later. But someone else I had met during the Via, Hiromi from Japan, told me the town he lived in and the bar he frequented—when not hiking in the mountains or along the coast.
As we passed through Nueva, I looked for the bar as Hiromi had described it. It was closed. To keep with our planned itinerary, we went on. (Fernando got back to me later. Wait for it.)
Hendrik and I had planned for this one to be a short day. We were tired—well, I was—and we had to look ahead at how the days and other places to stay along the path would play out. Pría seemed about the right location, though there was no place close by to eat.
The place we stayed at didn’t have Wi-Fi either, one of the few albergues I had encountered like that. So, I couldn’t post pictures of the day to my social media platforms. We stayed at the La Llosa de Cosme, a lovely little place run by a family who lived in a nice home farther back from the highway than the small albergue. Our building had ten beds, a kitchen, WC and shower, an outdoor space undercover, and a picnic table in the yard (garden). The La Llosa de Cosme was a super cozy place for the five of us. Marie from France, a man from Lithuania who Marie kept saying was from Estonia (with all her funning, I didn’t catch his name), Pango from Korea, and Hendrik and me.
A quick side note: Jody, whom I had walked with during the days before Bilbao, had told me a friend of hers was on a concert tour in Spain and would be in Bilbao on this day. Since one could very easily catch a train or bus back and forth along the north coast, I encouraged her to go back to Bilbao to see the show on the right night, then return to the Camino wherever she had left off the following day. This evening, Jody sent me pictures of her friend performing on stage in Bilbao. Jody was in the wings, up close. Sweet.