Sept 16, 2010 Villavicoisa to Gijon 23 kms

Today was a great day. When you are faced with a mountain to climb in the morning, it kind of takes the wind out of you before you even begin. I am worried about this even before I get up this morning. So we are 7 today as Sally and Thise are walking with us on their last day on the El Norte. We walk for quite a long way and as I have one of the two books that is our guide, I must pay close attention to the directions. I must say that I have finally figured out the way to work with the Confraternity of St James guide book for this route. First you have to tear out the pages that you want and place them in a handy pocket. Then you must cross out the routes you do not want to follow, then you must be vigilant in following the directions of the chosen route. Once you do that, the guide book is detailed and for the most part quite helpful. We have been following the yellow arrows mostly which work out quite well most of the time. There are a few times when the route is not well marked, but if you choose the upwards direction when there is a choice, you seldom go wrong.
So we walk....... We arrive pretty quickly at the demarcation between the route to the south along the Primitivo and then the Routa de la Costa which we prefer. After this, for the first time, we meet pilgrims going in the opposite direction to Santiago and it is a bit different to see this. They are mostly Spannish people at this point.
The climb is serious when we reach this point. Up for 400 m and most of it up a very steep rocky path on the mountain which is covered in mist when we arrive at the top. I am worried about keeping the group together and so warn everyone that we must keep in contact as we climb this way. It is quite an effort, but we all make it, even with Yette shouting for taxis and telling us not to talk as it is too hard to breath as well.
The way down is along a road and it is a 4 km stretch of downward walking that is enough to kill the soles of your feet and give you blisters in places that you have not experienced before. I still have no blisters and should not even mention this as it may destroy the foot karma that I have now.
We are laughing a lot and having a wonderful time, splitting into little groups to chat and just to walk slowly down towards the town we are heading for. It is a long haul into the city of Gijon, and quite a long walk along the pavement even with a good break in the afternoon.
We are all quite worn down with the walk and discouraged with the size of this large city as we walk and walk and walk into the centre of it.
Well the Camino Angels continue to appear out of no where and when we are just about to start a desperate scramble into an expensive hotel, a man approaches us and asks if we are looking for a pensionne. Then he leads us like a group of lost sheep. We are at the same time not sure of his intentions, but in the end we are taken to a pensionne where we all get a bed and the cost is E10 to each of us. So here we are, first aperatif in place and waiting for a good hot dinner together.
Sally and Thise will take a bus to the French route tomorrow and will walk for another week together there. We hear that people ar running for beds there and actually sleeping during the day and walking at night to make sure they get some sleep as the beds are scarce. Sally will SMS us to tell us how it really is.
The 5 of us will now take a bus to Aviles to avoid the cement and the industry out of Gijon that is not pleasant or necessary to walk through. We will likely take another bus out of Aviles as it is also a big city and then walk to the next alberque which is about 15 kms furthe along.
We miss the alberques as there are not a lot and so when we stay in the pensionnes, we do not see the pilgrims.
I am finding this route to be so different from the French route. We walk longer days and usually arrive after 4 pm now, Often there are no alberques and if there is a hostel, it is full when we get there. Regardless, it is now cheaper for us as a group fo 5 to stay in a small hotel or a pensionne as it is cheaper or the same price as the hostel or alberque and certainly much more pleasant.
Will go for dinner and hope we can find something hot and good now as the group is waiting for me to provide the communiçation to all who are waiting to hear from us. We did not get much to eat today as the stores were closed for the fiesta when we arrived last night and so we had to scrounge for food today along the way.
Last night Alvina wrote this for me on the paper table cloth during dinner, which is most relevant for my journey.

"My true home is where I become who I want to be" Yeng Chin
Maggee