Wednesday, 8 May 2024
Asturianos to Puebla De Sanabria
15.6 kilometers

Today was an interesting day, full of ups and downs, both physically and emotionally. The day was really characterized by walking on natural (dirt or dirt/rocks) roads through a very wet forest at times. And the recent rains left some of the lower parts of the road ankle-deep or deeper in soft mud. When not negotiating the best way through the mud, the forest was beautiful, quiet, and peaceful. Many pictures today, so I’ll keep the text to a minimum.

After arriving in Mombuey yesterday, we were transported 30 kilometers further along the Camino route to Puebla De Sanabria where our hotel was located. The plan today was that the driver would drive us back to Mombuey and we would walk the 30 kilometers to Puebla De Sanabria. We decided instead to have the driver drop us off at about the middle of that 30-kilometer route, in a town called Asturianos. That left about 15.6 kilometers of walking today, generally west.

This morning, we had the best breakfast so far on this trip at the hotel, included in the package of accommodations we purchased. Mostly the breakfasts are toast, butter, and jam with café con leche. Today we had yogurt and granola, a fruit bowl, toast, butter, jam, orange juice, and café con leche. Unexpected and for this we are very grateful.

As we were moving our backpacks and hiking poles outside to wait for the driver. I realized that I had left my hat in the taxi yesterday. The driver yesterday told us that today would be a different driver and a different car, so I knew my hat would not be in the car. We decided that I could wear an extra hat of Dan’s, and we would have today’s driver call yesterday’s driver and coordinate retreiving my hat. The driver pulled up on time at 9:00, opened the back of the van, and waved my hat, asking does this belong to someone? Apparently, yesterday’s driver found the hat, knew it was mine, and gave it to today’s driver. What a nice thing to do – I am so, so grateful! A good omen to start the day … I get to wear my own hat!

We got to Asturianos, and got started walking at 9:20 AM today. Ron took a photo of me at the first Camino marker sign we saw in Asturianos.

Walking out of Asturianos, I took a photo of the church.

Back walking on the Camino Sanabres, Ron took a photo of me by the waymarker indicating 264 kilometers to go to our destination of Santiago de Compostela. It is still cool out, I still have my jacket and gloves on, but not for long. It is a beautiful sunny day and it will be warm soon.

Onward along the N525 highway, exiting onto a secondary road, then off the pavement onto a natural road, down a gradual hill, and what we saw raised our awareness to high alert. Deep muddy ruts in the dirt road filled with water and soft, deep mud all around. Negotiating this will be a challenge. And this was only the first of many. Where there is a low point on the road, water from recent rains collects. Here is a photo of the first, and maybe the most challenging stretch of mud. The photo is not in good focus – I was not on firm ground and still shocked at what was ahead.

And traversing this muddy section, we all got our feet wet. Thankfully, no one fell into the mud. After each muddy section, the path would go up a little and we would have a short section of more firm ground on which to walk.

It seemed like a long walk through the muddy sections, but after 3.6 kilometers we reached Palacios De Sanabria where the Wise Pilgrim app indicated there was a bar. So we ordered a café con leche, went outside, took off our shoes and socks, and let everything dry a little in the sun. Gratefully it is a sunny and warm day today.

After what was a nice break, we put our socks and shoes back on. Just 20 minutes in the sun dried things noticeably. So we were soon back on the road, hoping the worst muddy sections were behind us. The photo below looks very much like the previous forest photo, but they are several kilometers apart. Despite the muddy sections, it was a very nice walk in the forest. We did, though, have to watch out for more mud.

I got a photo of Ron behind me on fairly firm ground with one of his pant legs still rolled up.

And another of Ron and Dan ahead of me in the forest, barely visible as they round a gradual curve to the left.

We paused briefly at the very small town of Remesal and I took a photo of the church there.

Sometimes the road was rocky. Today that is a good thing, because it also means dry and firm footing. Here is Ron taking a photo of a waymarker that has the kilometers to go on it.

There were more muddy sections, but not as bad as the first few kilometers before our break. Mostly, the path was solid, and the forest was all around us.

We came to the very small town of Otero De Sanabria. There was a monument commemorating an agreement between two kings that, as we interpreted the text, ended a war. Dan and Ron posed for me in front of the monument.

Opposite the monument was another monument and Ron took a photo me me there. No longer with a jacket or gloves – it is warm.

Walking through the town, I could not help but take a photo of the beautiful Iris flowers. We have seen quite a few Iris along the way. These are a very beautiful purple.

Since I stop frequently to take pictures, Dan and Ron get ahead of me sometimes. Here I got a photo of a very large Camino sign pointing the way as Ron and Dan almost disappeared around the next curve in the road.

As I recall, there was only one more muddy section to negotiate. Here is where we missed a turn at the muddy section as we negotiated around the mud and water.

We came to a clearing and Ron sensed we were not in the right place just after I took this photo.

So we went back to the muddy section, found a waymarker, and made the right turn back onto the correct path. Shortly after, we rounded a bend and saw a hillside of these rather prolific purple and gold flowers.

And after about another half hour of walking on paved road (finally, no mud), we could see Puebla De Sanabria in the distance with the castle at the top of the hill I did not have time to visit…maybe next time.

After walking some more, now tired and dragging a little, we got to a sign indicating that we were entering the town itself.

We walked into town, had to walk up a long gradual hill, and saw a restaurant serving roasted meats. We were all hungry, and a late lunch sounded so, so good, so we stopped with only about a kilometer to go to our hotel. Lunch was very good. Dan and Ron had a beer and I had my usual after-walk Coca-Cola. We had a large green salad to share, then Ron and Dan had Quail and I had pork loin made with a “secret” recipe. Then we could not resist and had ice cream for dessert. An excellent meal to end a very challenging and interesting walk.

Tomorrow we are looking forward to another good breakfast. We have a long, long day of 30 kilometers of which the first 20 kilometers is uphill to the highest point on the Camino Sanabrés. And it will be a warm day, so I’ll lose my jacket early on.

Next: Puebla De Sanabria to Lubián, 30 kilometers (a long day)