Day two of the primitivo proved to be beautiful. There was a nice big hill directly after leaving Grado to welcome us into the day but it was so worth it for the views we got.

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There were a lot more steep ascents and decents today but the path was so beautiful it didn’t seem matter. We went through a lot of great forest trails also along the way.

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Cornellana was the first town we passed through crossing over the river into the small town/village. Here there were some signs of its importance in bygone times with a large monastery all boarded up.

Leaving Cornellana we were back into beautiful trails and countryside with a few more minor ascents and decents to take us into Salas.

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Entering Salas

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Salas claims to be one of the best-preserved medieval villages in Asturias. The town is really quaint and peaceful and is a great place to take a break.

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I’ve been trying to book accommodation ahead where possible as I like the idea of knowing I have a bed to place my head on at the end of each day…mental scarring from Cantabria 🙂 I managed to get a total prize hostel tonight. La Camps hostel is run by Nicholás and is kind of fabulous. It is super clean and welcoming plus it offers a communal organic vegetarian meal with yoga afterwards!! My little heart is bouncing with joy! Thank you Camino mama for looking after my heart and soul x

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Today started the first part of the primitivo from Oviedo to Grado. The path out of Oviedo was really well marked with scallop shells on the footpaths marking the way until we left the city.

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The path today definately had more uphill and downhill than recent days but was still very manageable with some lovely trails on the way. The weather was also perfect for walking, overcast with a lovely cooler morning.

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Even when morning break came nature provided a perfect resting place.

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We headed further into the countryside and further uphill on our way to Grado passing some beautiful villages and scenery on the way.

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Grado is a small town which has everything you might need and I’ve found myself a great Alburgue to sleep in tonight. I hope it’s a night free from snoring and people who want to reorganize their backpack at 2:30am?!? as last night was pretty brutal.

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Well a lot was covered today after some pondering and discussions with others I decided to continue with the Norte up until Villaviciosa which I did today. The camino split here, one path continues with the Norte along the coast the other goes to Oviedo to join the primitivo. All guidance says the road from Villaviciosa to Oviedo is predominantly on paved road and not very exciting. Not wanting to bust my feet going into the primitivo I went for the elected option of taking the bus to Oviedo after reaching Villaviciosa. This takes 2 days from the walk and as it’s not an official camino it feels okay to do this…well okay for me and my camino at least. The primitivo will be hard but I have more time now to pull back a bit to do shorter days on it should I need to so that makes me happy.

So the walk today….well if the camino should ever move to Ireland I feel like we got a flavour of what it might be like. It rained all day long so while it was pretty it was a bit of a harder slog as we didn’t have the lovely option of sitting cross legged in the grass today eating lunch so we had to walk for longer without breaks and the breaks were shorter. It was still really good.

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I had a really short stay in Villaviciosa as I needed to get a noon bud Oviedo. I did get a flavour however of Villaviciosa’s reputation for great apples and cider with Apple’s marking the footpaths guiding all the must see sights. The buildings were old and beautiful and I was sorry that I didn’t have more time there.

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Oviedo is very pretty city. Tired feet and rain prevented me from fully exploring the city but from what I’ve seen it’s definately on my list to come back to.

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After a really good dinner last night and good night’s sleep I felt much more refreshed today. The walk today had much more paved roads (up to 50%) which sucked a little but the views were great and we went through some lovely villages along the way.

Leaving the village of Piñeres de Pría we headed back towards the sea to Ribadesella along some lovely trails.

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Ribadesella was the first and only town we passed through today and was really beautiful. I expected it to be a big and brash seaside town but instead found beautiful old winding streets and a stunning beach so I was very pleasantly surprised by what I found.

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We passed by the beautiful village of Vega de Ribadesella on the way to Caravia which was an absolute hidden gem with lots of murals along the streets. The street also had traditional storage barns on raised plinth to protect grain and corn from mice. It was beautifully maintained and rather special.

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A beautiful coastal path took us along the coast towards Caravia.

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Caravia has a small beach about 2km from the centre of town. It was great to get down there yesterday to get feet in the water at the end of the day.

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A little shorter walk today just 20km but I read the alburgue at Piñeres de Pría was worth a stopover with a super kind lady who does your laundry, peace and quiet in the country and it hasn’t disappointed. It feels like a really calm oasis away from the bigger towns for the night and feels like just what the doctor ordered.

We walked through several beautiful villages today on the way here. A village called Poo which was much prettier than it’s name would have you believe, a village called Celorio where a team were on active clean up duty from celebrations the night before. I didn’t envy their task as there were beer bottles everywhere and party stragglers still going. I think it’s clear that this is definately fiesta season in Spain right now.

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A teaser for a hotel spa had me tempted…but I kept on my way wandering through coastal villages and countryside.

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Today felt very gentle as the distance wasn’t as great so there was time for coffee, cold beer and chats on the way which felt good. We were warned prior to staying in our home for the night to stop and buy supplies at the nearby village as there were no shops near us…another excuse to sit and chill in the village prior to arrival. Nuevo was a super cute village with a very relaxed atmosphere.

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Just 1-2km away is out home for the night at La Llosa de Cosme Pilgrims hostel. Great neighbours…Just chilling in the countryside…

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Day 1 walking in Asturia gets the thumbs up. We had some walking on the road but for the most part we had paths and trails to follow which was much gentler on my feet so greatly welcome. We walked a coastal route predominantly today before ending up in the coastal town of Llanes. A low fog hung over everything as we set put today giving a little magic to the day.

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Gentler paths today with sweeping countryside and sea views.

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The first beach of the day was Playa cebías after which we meandered back and forth via coastline before finally climbing to the hill path above Llanes which gave a great view over the town as we arrived.

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Lots of wildlife again today..a young donkey playing with her mother near the start of the journey and an opportunist goose looking for food at the end.

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Llanes itself is a really nice mixture of old and new buildings. It had a vibrant centre and a seemingly active fishing port which was nice to see.

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The town has a small beach at the centre, a marina and active fishing port with a lovely view of the Cantabrian mountains in the background. The artist Agustín Ibarrola has an installation around the harbour. 66 cubes painted each weighing 60 ton called “cubes of memory” which is also good to have a look at.

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And did I mention the cakes….

Temperatures dropped a little today so I was able to get a little bit of a longer walk in and managed to make it to Just in which is the first village in the region of Asturia…goodbye Cantabria and your paved concrete and alphalt roads! woop woop!! I am hoping Asturia is a little kinder and a little more signposted than Cantabria.

I left Comillas this morning in what can only be described as something that felt like a zombie apocalypse. At 6am the festivities were just starting to wind down there were droves of teenagers trying to walk to nearby campsites some accompanied me up to 5km down the road. It felt very surreal and not really something I was prepared for at that hour. I was glad when they dispersed and I was on my own with the sea views and the trail again.

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The views down along the coast and on into San Vicente de la Barquera were beautiful this morning.

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The path moved inland after passing through small villages and countryside.

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Home for the night is a village called Bustio which is the first village in Asturias, Unquera the last village in Cantabria is the other side of the bridge. It felt good to make it over the bridge to Asturia.

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Once again there were no beds to be had, contemplating sleeping in the open air I grabbed a coffee in a bar and a lady spotted me and heard me asking for accommodation. As luck would have it her friend had a room around the corner so I managed to wangle a room at short notice once again and the shower….probably my best shower ever, multiple jets and I didn’t even have to stand up! Pure bliss!

After a great sleep at the convent I headed off early with an American girl Michelle to walk to Comillas. With the last few days heating up the plan was to be in Comillas by noon to have completed walking out of the glare of the midday sun. One of my favourite parts of the camino has been heading out into the early mornings. I love the morning air and the quietness all around.

The path today from Santillana del Mar to Comillas was to lead us back to the sea. We went through some really nice farmland and countryside seeing beautiful horses on the way.

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The track to Comillas teased at ocean views until finally opening up to the coast at Cóbreces. We walked along the boardwalk here before moving back inland before finally entering Comillas.

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Comillas is a really nice seaside town with a cute village and great sea views.

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There is a lot of great history in Comillas and lots to see including the very impressive guardian angel overlooking the town from the cemetery which was designed by Josep Llimona. The Fuente de Los tres Caños is also very impressive and was built in honour of the gentleman who first brought drinking water to the town.

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The main attraction for me however was Gaudís house and it didn’t disappoint. “Capricho de Gaudí” or “Villa Quijano” (1883-1885) with all its splendour blended perfectly into the surrounding nature. The house is considered to be one of Gaudís first works of importance.

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There is festival on in the town at the moment so accommodation was full. Thankfully a really nice girl in the tourist office phoned around and secured me a bed for the night…It felt like it was the last bed to be had in the town or surrounding regions. I was super grateful to her.

Today was a hot one on the road, thankfully we were up and out of the hostel early and thanks to a recommendation from a lovely lady in the tourist office yesterday and some trusty locals we managed to shave some kilometres off the trek today. It was supposed to be 36km but taking the train to Boo de Piélagos and starting from there made it a manageable 23km. As the entire route was via road today it was a welcome alternative.

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The initial walk out of Boo de Piélagos was beautiful flowing rivers along the way.

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This unfortunately turned into miles and miles of road which was not pleasant leaving very tired hot feet at the end of the day.

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The road finally opened up to Santillana del Mar which is a beautiful medevial village in the middle of the countryside and our home for the night.

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Home for the night is a Alburgue El Convento which is a hostel dedicated only to pilgrims for the summer months. Each former nuns room has been converted with a single bunk bed so we are all two per room and the grounds are very beautiful. Happy for the night! 🙂

I didn’t want to judge Cantabria too harshly against the Basque region too early but several days in I find myself longing for the trails of the Basque region. There is beauty in Cantabria too but the camino trail works you very hard making you pound the trail for hours on alphalt before revealing them. The added complication in Cantabria is that there are up to 4 different options to take every day with suboptions within days…The result is a spider’s web if paths and confusion. I’m a simple girl…I want a yellow arrow, a trail (no alphalt or concrete) and one way. Cantabria I know you are better than this!! I’m hoping it’s saving it’s best until last!

Back to the sea again today and what a stunning journey it was. I had a great nights sleep at Alburgue RiCas, a really lovely group of just 6 people…no snoring and a great meal from Rica the night before…I was well.set up for the day ahead. It was just 18-20km to Santander so getting up early and heading off left lots of time for enjoyment on the way. The first part of the journey was again by road going up through farmland to the coast.

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A gentle sign showed us that Santiago is practically around the next corner!!

The camino split in Galizano one route towards the coast to Somo where we would take the ferry to Santander the other via the main road…There was no difficult choice for me. I gladly took the quieter coastal route and most of the other peregrinos seem to do the same. I met up with a lovely German couple, Astrid and Torsten and Wolgang a lovely Austrian guy who accompanied me much of the way. The walk was truly breathtaking all the way and had a great mixture of coastal and quiet countryside.

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We walked further along the coast from Langre to Loredo passing some fabulous natural lagoons and beaches on the way.

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The path took us along the beach at Loredo for quiet some time…hiking boots, backpacks…walking on sand, beautiful but tough. When considering how quiet these beaches were and how beautiful they were I made a mental note to remember the location so that I could fully enjoy at a time without boots & backpacks!

We took a 20 minute ferry in Somo to take us to Santander. It was a very busy ferry running every 30 minutes between the two locations.

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Santander is a pretty big city with lots to see and do.

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It was nice to be able to catch up on supplies and see the city but with temperatures climbing quickly into the 30’s through the day my fair skin was calling for the shade so a quick retreat to my hostel to enjoy the not so shabby view.