Buen Camino

Our first hiking was not actually on the Camino.  But it doesn't matter, because it was beautiful.  After lunch we walked through Llanes, past more history, city walls, medieval houses, flowers, and the cathedral.

We made it to the park on the cliffs above the Atlantic, and I promptly called for a group photo.  Off we went, on the spectacular cliff-top walk, the Paseo de San Pedro.

Our first afternoon we covered around 5.5 miles, of gently rolling cliffside coastline.  Eventually we did come to the Camino, which was clear from the famed seashell signs.  For those not good with religion, the seashell is the symbol of St. James (whose bones are believed to be buried at the cathedral in Santiago -- the pilgrimages of yore were to pay honor to those relics.)  The scallop shell represents what he would baptize new Christians with.  The lines on the inside of a scallop shell also represent the many trails that make up the Camino.  A circle of life sort of thing.

We past cows and horses.  There were two modestly tense moments.  Once we passed by a bull that was contentedly laying down.  The bull was no more than 10 feet from us, with no fencing separating us from being Pamplona'd (See, I made up a new word and yet you know exactly what it means!).  The second was when we came upon a calf feeding from its mother.  The mom was not pleased to see us, so we were advised to move quickly past.  And we did, without incident.

The coast is rocky, with many rocks of varying sizes making up small islands just off the coast.  Those islands are of geographic interest, but more importantly to me, they add drama to my photos (it's all about me, of course!).  Meanwhile, off to the left was a long row of mountains, the backside of which includes the spectacular Picos de Europa (Peaks of Europe), which I had never heard of before.  That night at dinner Bea showed us breathtaking photos of that region.

We came upon a rather large fig tree (my fig tree won't be that size till long after I'm dead, if ever).  The fig was fabulous.  Right after that we headed down to a beach hidden deep inside a river cove with gentle waves.  A father and son were playing ball on the beach, but otherwise no one was on it.

Then we stopped at La Farola del Mar for a bathroom break and quick bit of coffee, Coke, or (in my case) agua con gas (sparkling water).  It's rude to just use the toilets at the bar, but it was nice to stop for a few minutes and have some sparkling water.

We continued on around the cove, joining up with the Camino.  After several years of talking about it, months of planning, we stepped foot on the reason we were in Spain (although one never needs a reason to go to Spain, other than. . .it is Spain!).

The highlight of the second half of the afternoon hike had to be the ruins of the seaside hermitage.  Built out on what could pass for a point, to the right and front of the ruins were beautiful rocky islands, and to the left was a stunning cove.

The first day hiking was not hard, but walking along the rocky coast (which reminded many of us, me included, of the west coast of Ireland) sent my soul soaring.  This is what I had imagined when we signed up for the REI trip.  We saw some locals hiking the other direction, but no other pilgrims.

We ended the hike in a small town where the bus awaited us to take us back to Llanes.  After checking into our beautiful old hotel, which had been built to be a church but was never used as one, Carol and I strolled around the town, taking turns down streets, not knowing exactly where we were going, but not lost either.

Before dinner, Aner took some time to brief us, using a map, on the basics of Spain's history and geography, zeroing in on the north.  Dinner was, again, wonderful.  We ate at the hotel restaurant, which Aner claimed is the finest food in town.  It could well be, as it was delicious.  Instead of tapas, we had several choices of first course, second course, and dessert.  The day of hiking was done.