We've been on the Camino for five days now, but with limited internet access and therefore blog silence. Tonight we're in a hotel in Fuente De (in the Picos de Europa) so I'll try to catch up.
Our first Camino was the Lebaniego, which runs from the north coast at San Vicente de la Barquera (west of Santander) to the monastery Santo Toribio (just outside of the town of Potes). This is a mostly mountainous path, and very lightly visited by pilgrims. It's also a difficult one because it's almost entirely on pavement (hard on the feet) and has a lot of elevation change. The standard itinerary is two days for the 60 km, but we decided to break it up into three days to be a little easier on our aged bones.
The first day we walked to the a very nice hotel (Casona del Nansa) near the small village of Cades (there's no albergue in the area). Lots of up and down, one longish climb over a ridge (last view of the ocean in the distance), then a descent to Cades. Day two was a little shorter, to the small village of Cicera which has an albergue and a bar for food. We passed through La Fuente (which used to have an albergue but it's closed because they didn't receive enough pilgrims to justify keeping it open), up over a mountain pass, then a rocky trail descent to Cicera. Just as we arrived the skies opened up, so we had a leisurely plato combinado (meat, eggs, and potatoes) and beer in the bar while we waited for the rain to end. We phoned in and a local man came to open the albergue for us. It's quite nice, and of course we had it to ourselves. After washing up we had a nice walk exploring around the village. The mountain scenery in this area is beautiful; I'll get some pics posted later on.
Day three started with a very steep climb out of Cicera, over the Collado Arceon pass, and then a rocky descent on trail to the small village of Lebena, site of a small but beautiful tenth century Mozarabic church. The walk from Lebena to Potes is infamous for being terrifying: along a two-lane highway with no shoulder, a rock wall on one side and drop-off into a river on the other. Not fun at all. Fortunately after about a half hour the arrows brought us off the highway and onto a small lane which paralleled the highway and river the rest of the way. We stopped part way there for a great meal in the small town of Tama, then dragged our food-and-wine filled bodies the last few km into Potes.
Potes is a very popular tourist destination, right at the edge of the Picos de Europa, and filled with bars, restaurants, and tourist shops. Lots of old buildings. At the tourism office we picked up a key to the albergue, which is quite modern and right in the center of the action with windows looking out over the river flowing through town. Again, we were the only ones staying there. After washing up we walked around the town for a bit.
Day four was a long one. We started with a few uphill km to the monastery Santo Toribio, home of what are claimed to be the largest pieces of the true cross (yes, that one), which were brought back to Spain by Santo Toribio from Jerusalem in the fifth century. The relics are encased in a beautiful silver and gold cross. Along with a few other visitors, we were ushered into the small room where it's housed, and had the opportunity to touch the actual wood. The priest who brought us in explained in some detail all the scientific testing which had been done to verify that these are indeed relics of the true cross.
After our visit to Santo Toribio, we continued into the heart of the Picos. Although the yellow arrows kept us mostly off the highway, they also brought us up several km of very steep trail climbing (up and down), eventually to the small village of Mogrovejo where we stopped for much-needed bocadillo and cold drink. From there, we descended to the Rio Deva and were mostly on paths (not the road) the rest of the way to the small village of Espinama. By the time we walked into Espinama a little after 6 we were bushed. Found a little hostal (there are no albergues here), washed up, had some dinner, and crashed.
Santo Toribio marked the end of the Camino Lebaniego; we're now following the Camino Vadiniense.
The next stage is over a high mountain pass in the Picos, and the weather is a little iffy, so after looking at the forecast we decided to take a rest day today and hope for clearer weather tomorrow. We walked an easy hour from Espinama to Fuente De and spent the rest of the day catching up on a few work chores and resting our legs for the next climb. I'll post this now, then follow up with a few pics.
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