Day 1, Gigón to Avilés Together

We finished up yesterday taking a barefoot walk at water's edge in Gijón, something Tina couldn't do last year while injured.  Walking back from the beach, we found a café on a back street and had some free tapas while following the European Cup championship game between Spain and England. 

Free tapas? You seem surprised.   If you order a round of drinks at a bar, you get a small plate of food.  Each place serves something different.   If you hop from place to place, you can make a real meal out of it.   The place we were at offered Spanish Omelet.  I was in my happy place. 

Before turning in, we watched Spain beat England 2-1 on TV.  That's when the partying outside really began. Car horns, singing... you name it. (Unlike Baltimore,  no gun shots. But I digress...)

When we woke up at 6 AM, the party was still going on.  We went out at 6:30 and found an open bakery, where we had delicious coffee and then returned to the hotel to start our walk by 7 AM.

 

Here's Tina exiting the city.  Something she was denied last year.  I think you can tell that she's pretty thrilled.

Walking through Gijón, we heard a strange sound, like metallic clicking of horse hoofs.  We turned to see that we were being overtaken by a group of six Spanish girls with backpacks and metal-tipped hiking poles.  They were walking really fast.  We thought "That's not sustainable."  

They'd speed past us.  Then they'd stop.  We'd catch up and help them with navigation. They'd be grateful.  Soon, they'd pass us again.  Repeat the process.  We know a thing or two about walking too fast, lessons learned from last year.  This wasn't going to end well.

 

Following the Spanish girls out of town.

The last time we passed the Spanish girls, they were outside of town, at the top of a really steep hill, split into two groups, with some removing their shoes.  Not a good sign.  We didn't see them again all day.  Maybe tonight...

Gas from Qatar.  Is this our future?

Today's walk is reputed to be one of the ugliest on the Camino.  You leave Gijón and enter into a huge industrial rust belt of steel mills, fertilizer plants, scrap yards, you name it.  It turns out that Tina loves this stuff.  She grew up in Detroit and studied Industrial Relations.  I dunno.

Tina in her element.

Just like last, we were in the countryside and the industrial wasteland was behind us.   We saw cows, horses, chickens, even a big tom turkey in someone's yard.  There wasn't a lot of civilization until we reached the tiny town of Santa Eulalia, about two and a half hours out, where we stopped for a water break.  No stores.  No rest rooms.  Keep walking.

Rural Spain is Beautiful

 

I'm not complaining, mind you, but you come to realize that guys don't care about the availability of bathrooms...

 

The rural Camino gave way to Industry again, as it had last year.  We could hear civilization before we saw it.  Like last year, the roar of the A8 superhighway was audible a good twenty minutes before we reached it.  We found a small truck stop cafe in the shadow of the highway about three hours and forty minutes into the walk.  Time for a bathroom break and two Cokes while being serenaded by heavy metal music.

From this point, the Camino involved walking on the shoulder of a two lane highway next to factories.   Not exactly photo-worthy.  Outside of Avilés, the path left the road and followed the River all the way into the center of the city.

Here's Tina on a footbridge next to the river, crossing the train tracks. Within minutes,  we were checked into our hotel.  (Tomorrow night's a hostel. We're working our way back into this.)

Avilés Town Hall, across from our hotel. 

For the first day's walking, we both felt surprisingly good.  No blisters or soreness.  The training paid off.

So, here's the daily post walking routine: First you shower.  Then you wash the day's clothes in a sink using bar soap, wring them out, and hang them up to hopefully dry.  Next you go out to lunch, after which you crash, taking a siesta.  (To put this in perspective,  I've racked up 41,000 steps today. I slept immediately.)

Tonight, we left the hotel early  because there was going to be an 8 PM procession of a statue of the Virgin Mary through town,  from church to church. We didn't want to miss it.

It was very cool and wonderful to witness. There was singing and confetti. 

Afterwards,  some beer in a café.  Today's walk was 25.3 kilometers.  Tomorrow,  we're deviating from last year's itinerary and staying in a town named Muros de Nalón.  Tina will pick up the narrative.