Distance: 16.5km (51.0km), time spent: 5:30 (16:11).
Weather: Clody, then sunny and very hot.
Latest going to bed, latest up in the morning. When I arise from the plastic mattress, everyone else has already left; the clock is past eight when I start walking towards Oviedo. This day has already been declared as a walk with nothing special on offer on the way by the guidebook. As usual on the caminos, the last part of the walk into the larger cities use to be boring, this would hold true for this day as well.
The Way between Pola de Siero and El Berron.
Even so, I do feel satisfied where I walk from Pola di Siero in the morning. There is nothing special on the route in the beginning, and there are not any great views to see either, but I am strangely unaffected by it. Just happy to be following the yellow arrows again, it is a simple life.
El Berron. Clouds are rolling over the hills in the background.
For a year ago, I did not drink coffee; now I could not wait to get to the first bar for my first cafe con leche of the day (blame it on the Koreans). After three kilometres, I get what I want, in El Berron, where I bear witness to a sort of a relationship drama (I believe). In the end, it becomes too much of manly sensitivity, so I pay my bill and continue walking.
In Carbajal, this twisted and somewhat grotesque tree was rising from some worn buildings.
The difference from the Camino Frances is significant. I meet no other pilgrims on the way, and the others I shared the albergue with should be some way ahead of me. Even so, I would not be surprised to see the numbers of pilgrims increase a lot when I come to Oviedo.
The entrance to the chapel in Palacio de Meres, La Capilla de Santa Ana, almost hidden behind the trees.
In Palacio de Meres there is a nice chapel, La Capilla de Santa Ana, where the entrance is almost hidden behind the trees. The palace situated in Meres, bears its origins from the 15th-century even though the current buildings are from the 17th-century. Just barely does the chapel rise above the trees that surrounds the palace.
Inside La Capilla de Santa Ana in Meres.
I stop for lunch in Colloto, which has a nice Romanesque bridge you crosses over at the entrance to the town. After Colloto, you disappear into the charmless world of going alongside a highway. After a while, the waymarkers also disappears and I have to constantly stop and wonder whether I am on the right way. Which I am, it follows the road in a straight line into Oviedo. Finally, I am coming to a familiar place, I recognize the buildings from the short time I had in Oviedo on my travel to Villaviciosa.
Romanesque bridge at the entrance to Colloto.
I make the cathedral in Oviedo mark the end of the walk for today. It is a fitting place to finish your day at, where many a pilgrim will begin their pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. And since I am already here, I just as well might visit the cathedral at once. They do know how to build cathedrals here in Spain, though this does not quite compare to the ones in Burgos, Leon or Santiago; but it is wonderful. I get to see the blood stained shroud that apparently was wrapped around the head of Jesus, but I found out that first afterwards. Then I go to find the albergue, but finds Axel instead. He will have a zero day here and got a room in a small hostel.
Gothic arches at the entrance to the cathedral in Oviedo.
According to my book, the albergue does not open until five o'clock, but I go looking for it anyway. Outside, there is a note explaining that it is closed for good, but that they have moved to newer premises not so far away. There the door also is locked. Therefore, I take my backpack and go to explore Oviedo some more, after a cold beer and some food. I have already seen a lot of pilgrims walking around. Later it turns out that the albergue was open (it opens at one o'clock); on the wall there was a small and rather unnoticeable switch that acted as a doorbell (no signs). I have no trouble getting a place, but the 51 beds in the albergue are filling up. 80% of them are going the Camino Primitivo. I can look forward to more crowded days from now on.
Inside the Oviedo Cathedral.
Oviedo is a lovely and nice city, and has more than enough on offer if one should spend more days here. Still, the road must go on (tomorrow though). I eat dinner at one of the city's numerous sidrerias, where they serve the traditional alcoholic apple cider. This cider is being poured into the glass from an arm's length, so that the air is taken out of the cider, a good part of the cider is also disappearing onto the ground. I buy myself a bottle (600ml) to my food, unsure of how wise that decision really is.
The Lady and the Oviedo Cathedral. The cathedral is the official starting point of the Camino Primitivo.
Back on the albergue before the doors closes (no keys extradited here) I spend some time talking to some fellow pilgrims, Pol that will walk the primitivo as I am and a girl doing the del Norte (from Oviedo there is a link to Aviles that you can use to return to the northern camino again). At the kitchen, there is a family from Brazil. Outside it is getting dark; it is quiet in the rooms. Tomorrow it will be less quiet on the camino than it was today.
The classical way of pouring cider in Oviedo, on an arm's length. The air disappears and something of the cider as well.
<- Pola de SieroSan Juan de Villapanada ->
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