Day 16: La Isla to Villaviciosa, and a Time Out

We enjoyed the small beach town of La Isla-as much as we could.  Tina's ankle injury is a concern. 

We had lunch at a so-so restaurant facing the beach just before the kitchen closed. That's always a challenge because Spaniards eat a big lunch between 1 and 4 PM and a smaller dinner between 8 and 11 PM. If we don't catch lunch, we have to eat a late dinner.  Lots of times, the markets are closed too until 5 PM.  We loved our lunch, so I'm not complaining. 

We did laundry, I napped while Tina updated the blog.  Then we thought we'd go to the beach and put our feet in the water.  That's when Tina's ankle said no.  She was not going to walk on sand.  The ankle needed stability.  (We've got hundreds of kilometers left on this trek!)

We limped back to our hotel for a drink on the patio (yes, that's  a gluten-free beer...) when we heard this loud honking/bleating sound from the street.

 

This might be a beach town but rural Spain is never far away!

We decided to get some extra sleep and start our planned shorter walking day at 7 AM.

The church of Santa Maria de Tona at sunrise.

Tina decided that hiking boots were a must for the added support,  and we left town gingerly.   Using the map, we decided to walk on a paved walkway abutting the highway to the next town, Colunga.

The Camino would have taken us on back roads with no guarantee of pavement.  3.7 kilometers later, we found an open café, no small feat before 8 AM.

Okay, so I'm no Ansel Adams.  The significance is that had we not stopped at one of two open cafés, the next opportunity would have been at our destination,  Villaviciosa, in the afternoon.  (It would not have been pretty.)

But today was pretty. In fact it was beautiful.   We walked through the Asturian countryside.

 

Frequently on paved small rural roads.

 

Beautiful, yes, but there were no services of any type on the road.  We started to become aware of our dwindling water supply.  There were towns listed on the map, but they were merely clusters of houses.  The few pilgrims we bumped into said the same.

 

While we rested outside the tenth century Iglesia de San Salvador in the hamlet of Priesca, I decided to scavenge for water.  I found a hose bib outside a pilgrims residence, and decided they wouldn't mind if I helped myself.

Each time we stopped,  Tina's ankle would stiffen up, and walking would be extremely painful and slow when we got back to the hike.  She was particularly  unhappy on uneven pavement and gravel, which we started to encounter more and more.

Much of the final part of the approach to Villaviciosa was like this.

And it was getting hot,in the mid '80's. (I know, everyone else is baking right now, but we were melting.)

We stopped at the first restaurant we saw as we were entering Villaviciosa, at 1:30 and said, "It's lunchtime."

Grilled vegetables.  Remember how hard these are to find.

Fabada Asturiana, the local version of cassoulet. 

We got to our 2 star hotel and after doing laundry and grocery shopping,  made a decision:  we need to spend an extra night here because that ankle's not going to get better on the next planned 30 kilometer hike.

So, here we are in a  town whose name translates as Vicious Town.   What's on the agenda?  No clue.  Just some rest.

Tina will tell you what happens next.