Did a little exploring of Gijon today. Went to the Aquarium which was quite good but obsessed with toxic animals of different sorts. After an excellent piece of Sea Bass at El Globo, back for a nap and then dinner with my NH friend Micheal’s in laws. This was very fun, his 80 yr old mother in law is a lot of fun and various other teenagers and Sister and brother in laws showed up for a total of many people all relaxed and raucous, felt right at home! So fun to be invited to someone’s home when traveling!

Quite the bus ride from Villaviciosa. All turns and switchbacks for the better part of an hour straight. I am not particularly prone to motion sickness, but I was feeling distinctly uncomfortable by the end of the ride. The Parador in Gijon is a lovely historic building but unfortunately a mile plus from the historic center. Dropped my stuff and walked into the center along lovely beach promenade. Found some lunch and then headed for the railway museum. Also took in the Roman bath ruins along the way. After getting my room and some down time, met up with friends of my NH neighbor and we has a fabulous evening out. Lots of celebrations for local saints going on, so the whole town is in party mode. We went to a local place for dinner and had seafood, octopus, calamari and Tuna. Delicious. Great evening, off and on rain.

Wow, quite the evening at the hotel in Colunga. Not much Gluten Free, but had a salad and some Gazpacho on top of the ham happy hour and that did the job. Solid duo playing American Blues classics, all outside. Very nice. Took the bus today as it turned out to be really hot and there was a lot of distance and hills involved. Small 8 room hotel and Villvicisio was having their annual Cider festival. Lots of people, many still going now after 10:00pm. By eating lunch shockingly early by Spanish standards, at 1:00pm I was able to get something, Many were still finishing lunch around 5;00PM.

I realized that between chafing and blisters I was not wanting to walk 20km today, so grabbed a bus to the 10km mark and walked from there. Seemed like a really long 10km! Some beautiful scenery but a lot more of “whose bright idea was this anyway?” Eventually got to my hotel feeling barely coherent, but rallied after a shower. So, slight change of plan going forward, tomorrow is Villaviciosa which looks like a decent size town, so will bus there. Then canceled the following night as it was the middle of nowhere and booked an extra night in the Paradore in Gijon. A neighbor in NH is married to a lady from Gijon so I am very much looking forward to meeting them.

Today was a relatively short day with some highway walking and some nice countryside walking. Arrived in Ribadesella shortly after 1:00pm, hotel unfortunately located far from restaurants of the old town. Room not ready so, hoofed it back and found some lunch. Somehow, even though it was a short day I got a solid blister bubble on the outside of my left heal, oh well, moleskin tomorrow. Always comes as a surprise, in my thousands of miles of walking I’ve only ever had one blister. Not sure why now! 23,000+ steps today.

I can highly recommend the Hotel Don Paco in Llanes is you are ever that way. Lovely breakfast this morning in what was an old chapel at one point. Off walking out of town shortly after 9:00am and caught up to by American couple. They, of course, turned out to be from Seattle, Queen Anne. So we walked together all day and stopped for a terrific lunch at a Sidreria that was on the way. Even though it was a mere 17km, it was about 4:00pm when I got to the hotel in Nueva. They took the bus to the next big town where I am headed tomorrow. Nice scenery today, lots of good surf. Nueva typical small town, but nice hotel with limited dining options around.

Urquena was a very small town, but by some miracle the pizzeria had GF pizza. I was so happy I ate a whole one! Walked around a bit and caught a spectacular sunset picture. Slept well and didn’t wake up until 6:00am, first time on the trip I wasn’t wide awake at 4:00am. After breakfast, decided to catch a bus to the halfway point of my scheduled day, that meant a 16km day instead of about 28km. That worked well and the scenery today was fabulous and included blowholes! Even though it was only 16km there was a lot of up and down and it was hot, so it felt like a very solid day. Llanes is a slightly bigger town with multiple restaurants.

Beautiful weather today and started walking out of Comillas in a relaxed way. Eventually ended up on the coastline weaving between various beaches, Absolutely beautiful and lots of up and down. This was more what I was picturing walking on the Norte, not endless suburbs. Still all on pavement but the gorgeous scenery made up for it. Had lunch and finally got some paella. One of the travails of traveling alone is that you never get paella or other dishes only available for two. In this case, it was the plat of the day, inexpensive and good. Hoped a bus the final few km to Urqena where I am in a very basic hotel. Not much going on and of course the best restaurant in town is closed on Monday nights!

Woke up this morning to monsoon level rain going on. A look at the forecast showed that rain was predicted all day. After some research on google, I found a bus that would take me to Comillas with possible drop off in the town before. Considering it was Sunday, this was a surprise, but it worked flawlessly. As we arrived in the town before it was still raining so I decided to stay on the bus the whole way. This turned out to be a good choice, checked into the hotel and then went and did the little tourist train around town, 20min, then found a hearty lunch. Turns out that Comillas is a pretty big town with some nice squares lots of old buildings and a beach. It has some very interesting Gaudi buildings, among the few outside of Catalonia. After walking down to the beach, I found a gate that Gaudi had designed and then went to the Capricho de Gaudi, Gaudi’s Caprice and interesting building built for someone who had made his riches in Cuba. Next door is a palace and so on. Quite a surprise for a town that I have never heard of.

So I want to write a little about an important travel skill that also is useful in life. I call it the “pivot.” When it was raining hard today, I just did not want to end up walking in the rain for 6 hours and being soaking wet. So the Pivot was to explore the options, which included a taxi or a bus or possibly another transport option. As it turned out the bus was great and, because I arrived in Comillas not having walked for 6 hours, I was able to go and explore the sites. This would not have happened if I had stuck to my original plans. I remember another pivot I made on my second camino outing, I arrived in Sahagun after 7 days of walking on the flat Meseta with a golf ball sized lump on my right calcaneus, Dr. Google said Calcaneal Bursitis. So, the choice was to stop walking rather than risk permanent injury. I was very disappointed at the time, but ended up taking the train to Seville, where it so happened that it was Easter week, the famed Semana Santa. Anyone who has been to this in Seville knows that it is remarkable! So, that was another pivot that worked out to be better than the original plan. The ability to pivot in travel, life, business and tango is critical!

Today ended up being a long, hot day. Projected walk was 18km but turned out to be substantially longer. The Palacio de Arce was lovely, simple rooms and a great kitchen, slept reasonably well, still adjusting to time zone. After a solid breakfast out the door slightly after 9:00am. Mostly not very attractive walking but a couple nice sections. The whole day on pavement. Got into Santanilla Del Mar just before 4:00pm, so that made for at least 6 hours of actual walking. This town is all cobblestones and apparently a big local tourist draw. I’m staying at the Parador. Paradors are restored historic buildings run as fancy hotels, a little old and creeky but very nice! After washing clothes in the sink and a nice shower it was out to check out the town a little. Because it is all cobblestones and tourist stores not that much to see. Hopefully tomorrow will be cooler. I have some serious chafing going on that makes things a touch uncomfortable! Invariably when you have these super long uncomfortable days, you start to think: whose idea was this anyway? Then you realize, a lot of things in your life are pretty much the same, self inflicted hassles that you didn’t say no to, or just chose to immerse yourself in! 29,000 steps.