BLOG : Our daily adventures,
Week 40 - Luarca to Candas
April 9th to 15th 2023
- Day 274: April 9th: Luarca to Playa Quintana - 20 km
Breakfast with a view...and eaten on a proper table...it is a luxury to find picnic tables right where we pitch our tent...we enjoyed not to sit on the ground for a change.
Hiking trails are well taken care of here in Asturias. The E9 costal trail Spain segment does exist here (it was not the case in Galicia) and is well indicated with frequent signs and landmarks. A plus, we regularly found resting areas: benches with spectacular views and picnic tables. It was time for a little feet massage and stretching muscles session for me.
Playa los muinos
The perfect resting time is when you reach a place where you can let go of the weight of your backpack without having to put it on the ground...the later always involves a weight lifting exercise right after your break to get the bag back on our shoulders...tedious.
Usually farmers wrapped these in boring black plastic..Casey thought a few days ago that it would be way more appealing aesthetically if they would use brighter colors ...his wishes have a tendency to materialize themselves lately: here it goes they've turned into pink ones!
When not hiking on the E9, we sometimes go more inland to follow portions of the camino del Norte. It is always a plus to walk on the camino since it leads to pilgrims hostels (in case we'd like a warm shower)...but also (our favorite) pilgrims-friendly restaurants which offer a cheap (12-15 euros) "menu del dia" for the pelegrinos which includes entree-main dish-postre or coffee...For 34 euros we got ourselves the full treat today at the restaurant "Canero"...just with our 2 entrees (generously served caldo arroz and asturian soup), we could have fed 4 people...we'll be rolling on the trail after this one..
Each time we discover a new wine that we love, we try to remember its name...a picture makes it easier. This one was delicious and surprisingly not expensive..a rare find.
We've seen a lot of these benches made using cartwheel..great added charm even more when covered with luxuriant flowers.
Beautiful arches for the train tracks.
We are lucky when it comes to finding drinking water in Portugal, Galicia and Asturias...each village has either its own fuente and/or former old-fashioned clothes washing stations:water at every corner.
Wisdom of nature: in the midst of a monotonous crowd don't be afraid to be the one who stands out..that what makes you more beautiful.
We were following blissfully our E9 trail going from stunning views to stunning views when we stumbled upon this scene of horrific desolation...entire valleys and hills of (otherwise lush) pine trees and eucalyptus costal forests devastated by wildfires....According to the Authorities,
these fires have lately been deliberately caused by criminals who have premeditated and strategically coordinated their "attacks"
...they call them "environmental terrorists". Last week at the beginning of the semana santa more than a 100 of fires were raging in Northern Spain especially in the areas we've just walked through: Galicia ans Asturias. One of the hypothesis as to why these forest fires were increasing in the past few years is the adoption of a new law in 2017. This law stipulates that farmers may use areas recently destroyed by wildfires as grazing land for their lifestocks. The authorities think that this law became counterproductive and may be now a corrupted incentive for farmers to trigger "incendits" in the forest neighbouring their farmland so they can use them to their advantages
these fires have lately been deliberately caused by criminals who have premeditated and strategically coordinated their "attacks"
...they call them "environmental terrorists". Last week at the beginning of the semana santa more than a 100 of fires were raging in Northern Spain especially in the areas we've just walked through: Galicia ans Asturias. One of the hypothesis as to why these forest fires were increasing in the past few years is the adoption of a new law in 2017. This law stipulates that farmers may use areas recently destroyed by wildfires as grazing land for their lifestocks. The authorities think that this law became counterproductive and may be now a corrupted incentive for farmers to trigger "incendits" in the forest neighbouring their farmland so they can use them to their advantages
This one still produces smoke.
Only the trail survived surrounded by a decimated forest.
Surprisingly the wooden bridge was saved.
A little further the trail ended and seemed to have disappeared totally in a landslide caused by the coordinated efforts deployed to contains the fire using a combination of :
-releasing tremendous amount of water from firefighting planes and helicopters to extinguish the flames.
-excavating trenches to stop the propagation of the fire to neighbouring areas.
-and covering parts of the hill with what seemed to be and smelled like cow shit to smother the burning ground.
We had to turn around and get back to a more breathable atmosphere...plus 5 km of detours today.
We were about to turn into smoked salmons...
-releasing tremendous amount of water from firefighting planes and helicopters to extinguish the flames.
-excavating trenches to stop the propagation of the fire to neighbouring areas.
-and covering parts of the hill with what seemed to be and smelled like cow shit to smother the burning ground.
We had to turn around and get back to a more breathable atmosphere...plus 5 km of detours today.
We were about to turn into smoked salmons...
The camino reduced to smoke and ashes.
Us ...from turtles we morphed into even worse..but slow and steady wins the race...and also enjoys way more..
Our own little paradise of a home...one breathtaking morning view after the other..Happy!
20 km done for a total of 3316+ 20 = 3336 km
- Day 275: April 10th: Playa Quintana to Santa Marina - 15 km
This morning we got to enjoy our breakfast on a proper table again ...our campsite is facing this beauty of a beach..we are on the side of the Valley that was left unharmed by the wildfires while the other is just calcination.
I've started to give massages to my achilles tendons at every break...the perfect receipt to avoid tendonitis..
My bathtub today.
Again we found a restaurant that offers a menu del dia....Casey is still smiling here since his first course was a delicious paella...unfortunately, for the second course we forgot to translate the menu and blindly jumped on the 2 options offering "ternera" as meat...and we both ended up with unexpected piece of the beef we thought we've ordered: tongue for me and liver for Casey....I've felt like I just french-kissed a cow.
Last time we saw one of these was in Portugal hiking the via algarviana...beautiful salamander. We often end up walking past sunset time to find a suiting area to pitch our tent...sometimes our evening quest leads to nice wildlife encounters.
15 km done for a total of 3336 + 15= 3351 km
- Day 276: April 11th: Santa Marina to Playa de San Pedro de la Ribera - 16 km
When your past as a gymnast becomes useful at last.
Someone has turned this abandoned house into a piece of art.
Our hats always feature the flowers of the day!
Le bonheur est dans le pré!
16 km done for a total of 3351 + 16= 3367 km
- Day 277: April 12th: Playa de San Pedro de la Ribera to Cudillero - 13 km
It rained all night and Casey got caught again by the rain this morning while trying to pack his bag outside the tent...luckily the sun came back long enough around noon for us to pack our tent when dry.
The weather is capricious today jumping from cold/grey/windy to hot/sunny every 30 minutes...We keep alternating between t-shirt and jacket mode...all day long
How sweet it is when you find these little gems "fraises des bois"!
Following the camino del Norte backwards is always funny...helpful locals keep coming to us and trying to redirect us towards Santiago...."estamos en el camino de vuelta" is our new go-to explanation.
Rainbow-friendly kind of day..
Double treat for Casey..we've been waiting to find an open restaurant since this morning and Casey went wild.
Today's champions ligue day...Casey is focused on the game Real Madrid against Chelsea...in the bar reigns a fiery atmosphere: cheers, rounds of applause and screams each time the Spanish team is scoring a goal...No doubt, I'm back in Europe.
13 km done for a total of 3367 + 13 = 3380 km
- Day 278: April 13th: Cudillero to San Adriano - 18 km
Disney's influenced the architect on this one..
For a few km we decided to follow the itinerary given by Mapsme (our Go-to App when navigating our way through Europe) instead of the camino which was following the main roads for this section of its path....this time, Mapsme was traitorous and led us on a trail which had not be taken care of for a great while...we had to crawl over, under, through bushes, brambles, broken trees...to finally cut through the steep forest to resurface on another trail below....very acrobatic morning that made me swear like a sailor....we got in one piece out of there..
After giving us a hard time...mother nature had to remind us that she still loves us.
First objective of the day : reaching the town of Muros de Nalon where is located the next available grocery store to resupply our depleted stock of food.
Second goal: finding a good restaurant which offers our favorite perks for pilgrims...
the menu del dia! We found a little heaven at the restaurante Casona today! 12 euros for this one with : entree...
main course and wine..
..dessert and coffee..all included...I don't need to eat for the rest of the day!
The camino del Norte led us more inland for this stretch ..still the sea is never too far, we can still have it in sight as well as the darkening sky above it. We could tell the weather was about to turn grey on us before it actually happened. We again were very lucky today, we always found a shelter right before the rain started to fall heavily.
Waiting for the storm to pass under a cosy little bus stop.
There was barely enough space to walk on this bridge..using our hiking sticks was not an option...we could feel it afterwards in our joints and bones.
Emerald green lake ...what a beauty!
The Asturians are really proud of their antique corn-drying elevated sheds. They have here a different shape than the rectangular ones we've seen in Portugal or Galicia: a squarish mini cottage on stilts which often offers a way better view than the actual house.
18 km done for a total of 3380 + 18 = 3398 km
- Day 279: April 14th: San Adriano to La Cavada - 21 km
Today will involve a lot of walking along main roads and crossing industrial areas since we need to cross the Ria Aviles on a bridge located inland ....to keep my german man happy (he can't stand the sound of traffic), I managed to lure him into a smiling face by providing frequent beer-breaks on our way to aviles...this little bar at the crossroad of 3 streets saved my day.
From the distance, we can already see the industries and factories which surround Aviles...
We had a little break on the beautifully paved plaza Carbayo in Aviles in front of the old church Iglesia de Santo Tomas de Sabugo.
A cycling competition is being prepared...we've been surrounded by colourful teams of cyclists training for the next day...
We are approaching the outskirts of Aviles with rows of houses designed for the employees of the multiple heavy industries in the sector.
A sight that made us smile...funny washing line..beware not to poke holes in your clothes on this one.
Despite the painful experience of having to cross a beauty-depleted area like this one, it was for us quite impressive to slowly pass by this gigantic industrial complex: full lights on, heavy burning smell in the air, deafening sound of beeping machines, intricate network of pipelines, chimneys spitting orange flames in the night sky....a monstrous animal.
We pushed ourselves today to make it out the factories infested area...at last we reached the countryside exhausted but happy/grateful to have found at last a green field near a forest of eucalyptus...far away from the "ugliness" as Casey now have re-baptised Aviles.
21 km done for a total of 3398 + 21 = 3419 km
- Day 280: April 15th: La Cavada to Punta de Entrellusa (Candas/Perlora) - 10 km
10 km done for a total of 3419 + 10 = 3429 km