peregrina nicole
RIP 2016
Hi Everyone! Thanks for all of the pre-camino advice. We are now on day 10 of the primitivo. We are in Lugo, which is the first place we have been able to do internet (on rua Vilaba, just outside of the walls).
We started in Villaviciosa in Asturias and I am using the Confraternity of Saint James Pilgrim Guide number 4. This is dated 2010, but it is quite out of date in places, so I took notes so that it could be updated. After I finish my series of posts, I´ll send the whole lot off to the confraternity. I am using the booklet version not the acrobat download. I noticed that when I downloaded the last update that the pages mentioned didn´t match up to those in my booklet, so I will also mention place names which will hopefully help. I should say something about the distances. These are all approximate. We have the Confraternity guide, info from Mundicamino and info from the hospitalero in Pola. None of the distances given agree with each other. This may be due to slight changes in the route.
Day 0: Fly Glasgow to Ovideo via Easy Jet. From the airport there are hourly buses (on the hour) to Oviedo and Gijon (separate buses). The bus stop is to the right as you leave the airport. We went to Gijon, got dropped off at the bus station and caught a bus there to Villaviciosa. We mananaged to pay for both trips on the bus. However, for the Villaviciosa segment, we were told that we should have bought a ticket at the office. This is on the same square as the buses, on the side where the back end of the buses point (hopefully this makes sense). Toilets are on the left side (bring your own paper!). In Villaviciosa, there is a new bus station, so we didn´t get dropped off where we expected. There is a map which can help you orient yourself and the locals are pretty helpful. A number of people recommended the Hostal el Sol on Calle El Sol (985 89 11 30). We paid 31 euros for a double without a bath. It is a great place, the people are nice and it is on the camino! So thanks for the recommendation. It was suggested that we phone up and book ahead. This was GREAT advice (thanks Mike! as we arrived on the weekend and the place was full. We met some quite desperate people at the tourist office who were looking for a place to stay as all the towns on the coast were full. I managed to get my CREDENCIAL at the Cafe Colon (a lady from the amigos del camino) does the issuing (bring your passport). This is in the plaza where the ayunatmento building is (left hand side of the plaza). This is an offical Asturias credenical. You can get sellos from the Cafe Colon or the tourist info office. While you are here you should at least have one bottle of cider (sidra). The waiter pours you a small amount from a high up in order to airiate the cider. You are supposed to swallow it before the fizz goes. We checked the route out of town to make sure we know where to go. It is pretty well marked with yellow arrows.
Day 1: Villaviciosa to Pola de Serio (27km) (Aug 14)
The Confraternidad info is more or less accurate for the beginning of the day. At Castiello (page 9) the bench is now fixed and it makes a nice sandwich eating stop. From here the route wants you to go to the monastry rather than to Ambas. The monastry in Valdedios has an albergue. It opens at 15:30 and you get kicked out at 8:15. You can get a sello from 19:30. There is a cafe bar just opposite the monastary. The owner was pulling into the drive as we walked by and he opened especially for us. He didn´t have a sello, but somehow managed to insert our credenciales into his cash register to give us a stamp. So 10 out of 10 for effort! At Vega de Sariego (Albergue has 24 places), it was the festa de Carmen Vega (the local Virgin Mary) so we were treated to a procession complete with people in traditiona Asturian dress while we had lunch a Taberna L Casura. We were here around 13:16 and were impressed that the local mini market was open (and had bread so fresh it was still warm). Near the Fuente del Romero after Vega THE ROUTE CHANGES from the description in the confraternidad booket. This is all very well way-marked. You follow the road until you arrive at El Castru. Here you turn right adn then almost immediately left to get into a section that goes on tracks and avoids the road. You come back onto the road for a short section near the sign that indicates that you have left Avero. Ignore the arrows that indicate that you should turn left into a barb wire fence. Continue on for 50m and you will see a turn off to the L. There are LOTS of arrows here. You cross a bridge and go up to the Ermita de Nra Senora de Bienvenir (nice picnic area). You descend on a zigzag dirt road which is followed by a gentle rise and then down to the puente medieval. You continue on the track and rejoin the road just before El Rebodal and its pool (mentioned in the Confraternidad Guide). There is a lovely and new albergue in Pola at the far end of town. Just follow the Confraternity instructions to the round about with the metal modern art sculpture. This is where the albergue is. It opened in June 2010. Juan, one of the hospitaleros was super helpful and gave us info sheets on the route, a map of Oviedo, and info on albergues. The Sidera Restaurant opposite does great meals, is very peregrino friendly and gave us a special discounted menu.
Day 2: Pola to La Venta del Escamplero (29km)(Aug 15)
We left the albergue at 7am and managed to arrive at El Berron 3.5km later by 7:50. The Cafe Cruz, on the route, was open for breakfast. The guide is accurate up to Colloto (note cafe bars on the camino as it winds through town). As you leave Collato there is a new round about and the very helpful arrows seem to end. You have to go to the far side of the round about and go under the motorway bridge and continue straight ahead. You start to pick up the occasional yellow arrow again, but they are pretty sparce here. You soon see the spires of the Cathedral of Oviedo just continue straight. You eventually end up about a block away from the Cathedral (Cathedral is on the left) (17.4 from Pola). Aug 15 is NOT a good time to be in Oviedo. It is a national holiday and most businesses were shut. On top of that, Oviedo was one of the gathering places for the World Youth Day. So the place was crawling with teenage pilgrims on their way to see the Pope. The Camera Sacra in the Cathedral was closed and we really struggled to find anyone who could tell us where to get a sello. All of the priests were imports. We eventually decided to enter the ´restricted`area in the hopes that someone local would be able to help us. We eventually met some guys in suits who took us to a side room to stamp our credenciales. Needless to say, we didn´t even try to get a place to stay in Oviedo, we just pushed onto the next albergue. Getting out of Oviedo is hard as it isn´t well marked. Why such a major pilgrimage town isn´t well sign posted is beyond us, but you think that the local amigos del camino would get thier act in gear here as the rest of the Primitivo is VERY well sign posted. The Confraternity instructions are very helpful here UNTIL you cross over the rail way at Arganosa station. Here some construction blocks the route and you have to do a detour. An arrow takes you left after the rail crossing and you have to loop around left again (essentialy doing an 180). You continue down a dual carriage way with a grassed area in between. You eventually rejoin the route at a part and then you hit the Lavapies stream. The locals here are used to lost looking peregrinos and they kept on pointing us in the right direction. After that, the route is well marked until you hit La Venta del Excamplero. We picked up the keys to the albergue at the Casa Fernando restaurant. You pay at the restaurat (3 euros) and they will stamp your credencial. The albergue was small and adequate but dirty. I gave the floor a good sweep. There were 7 peregrinos in total in the albergue. It sleeps 12 and costs 2 euros. We ate at Casa Fernando. The other bar mentioned in the guide was closed.
Day 3: Escamplero to San Salvador de Cornellana (24.5km) Aug 16
Here the route description in the Cofraternity guide is accurate at the begining of the day. At Permono, we found a very peregrino friendly bar with a sello (open at before 8am). When you get to Cueto you need to take note that there is more than one T junction. You need to turn L onto the road at the second T juntion. In Grado, you can get a sello from the tourist info kiosk. The Auto-Bar on the way out of town (on the Camino) also has a sello and does bar snacks. After Grado there are some changes to the Confraternity description due to road construction. This is all very well sign posted and you find yourself heading up to the pass at El Fresno. After El Fresno, I am happy to report that the original route that desends to the left and goes through San Marcelo (fountain at entrance) and La Doriga (bar-private albergue) is now the offical route and it is well marked. The private albergue, Ca Pacita (684 61 38 61) is very nice and the owner is a great guy. He has a nice sello. We thought about staying here but pushed on to Cornellana. The albergue in Cornellana is in part of the monastry. I have seen one guide book which says this has 24 beds. I didn't do a bed count to confirm this. The rooms are nice and big and there is a washing machine and cooking area. Unfortunately, Aug 16 was the last night of their local festival and we had to endure a rock marathon, which played until 8AM!!! just outside of our room. Even after a full day of walking, with a sleeping pill and ear plugs it was pretty difficult to get any sleep. Just to make things even more fun at 3am or so, some ´drunken youths´hopped over the secruity fence (a brave move given the big spikes on it) and released a fire extinguisher in one of the dorms (not ours thankfully). When we packed up and left, the music was still playing and the bar was still open. At least someone had a good night, but it wasn´t any of the peregrinos.
Day 4:Cornellana to Albergue de Bodenaya (17.4 km) (Aug 17)
Our original plan was to go to Tineo, but after a sleepless night, we decided for a short day and rather liked all of the positive reports about Bodenaya. As you leave the albergue and head to Cornelllana the camino goes to the left, just before the bridge that would take you to town. You walk along the river and from there there is good route marking to Quintana. This seems like a new part of the route which was no doubt put in place as a result of the construction of the new motorway. Just as you approach Salas there is now a signed area where you cross the main road and then you follow a lane until you hit the town. I´m happy to report that the old albergue is now closed and that a new one has been opened. There are signs advertising this as you enter town. After Salas, there are some route changes due to the motorway work. The info is accurate until you hit the main road at El Llanon. The bar mentioned in the guide is now closed. From here, you turn right and follow the main road which loops twice under the motorway and then you get directed onto a new dirt road. At a T juntion, you go L and follow the arrows. It looks like this diversion misses out Porcilles. We were rather wondering how far along we had gotten until we saw the metal shelter. We passed the church and then looped back and arrived at the Albergue de Bodenaya (13 beds). This place was GREAT! Alex was helped out by Antonio from Italy. There is a communal meal at 8 (vegetarian). Alex sells beer but no other food apart from the evening meal. At the mean, everyone has to decided what time everyone will get up. This system works very well. You also get a contental breakfast. The albergue and meals is all run on a donativo basis. This has 16 places and was full. The overflow walked to Espin and stayed in hotels.
Day 5:Bodenaya to Albergue de Borres (26 km) Aug 17
The Confraternity guide indicates that there may be some route changes due to road constrution. We just followed the arrows and managed to get to El Pedregal without any problems and then onto Tineo. There is a slip in the route for those who want to go to the albergue in Tineo. We stayed straight and eventually ended up in the main shopping area of town. We can confirm that the bar at Alto de Piedratecha is now a hairdressers. At this point we decided that we wanted to avoid yet another monastery (we still bore the scars of Cornellana) and that we wanted to shorten our route so we took the suggested alternative in the guide and stayed on the road to Villaluz. We had originally planned to stay in Camiello, but were informed that the albergue would be closed as the mother of the hospitalero had died. Casa Maximo in the guide now apears to be Casa Ricardo. They are very pilgrim friendly and have a good sello. Their shop has a good selection, so this is a good place to stock up for food if you are staying at Borres. We heard bad reports of the Algergue Hermania (´13 euros for a room with 25 others, not good value´). I can´t confirm this but the place did rather look like a warehouse from the outside. At El Fresno-Espin there was a bar with a picnic area across the road. In retrospect, this would have been a better place to spend the night than Borres. We took the road alternative to Borres. There are road works, so you don´t have a straight forward juntion. When you hit the main road, turn L. When we arrived at Borres, the place was packed and people were also on any spare space on the floor. It was also dirty. It DID have a sello, which is about the only good thing you can say about the place. It didn´t have any running water. I managed to get some by walking along the road until I found a house with a water hose that worked. Other people went back to the bar in El Fresno to buy water. There are no shops or facilities in Borres. The algergue has a microwave oven, but that is it for cooking. Thankfully, we had a tent and so stayed outside of the albergue. The hospitalero didn´t show up to charge any of us our fee.
Day 6: Borres to Berduceo (25.7 km) Aug 18
We decided to do the mountain route via Hospitales. This is a very lovely route and is VERY well sign posted. In fact, you would have to have visability down to 20m or less in order to miss the route. Most of it is on a track and the bits that are not on a track have pole markers very 10m or so. It is on a ridge so it wouldn´t be the best place in the world in a lightening storm, but otherwise I think that this route would be fine. In winter, I would probably want a map and compass, but without snow, route finding shouldn´t be a problem. One major issue is the lack of water. We had 2L each and were bone dry by the time we hit Montefurado. I would have been happier with 3L. I think that there must be some mistake in the guide when referring to the hospitales. La Paradella was in ruins byt Fonfaron looked OK. There looks like there is some work being done on the camino just before you hit Alto de la Marta. Once at the Alto, the arrows do indeed point you to the central path. When you hit the Porto del Palo, there is now a path to the left which will eventually take you to Monefurado. This avoids the road apart from the places where you have to cross. In Montefurado, there is water in someone´s yard, just after the church. The chap was quite nice about letting me have some. The guide suggested asking before taking water. One of the Italians said that his guidebook didn´t mention asking. He just took water and got shouted at. The last camino updated indicated that it seemed more than 2.2 km from Montefurado to Lago. There is now a sign that indicates that it is 4.1 km. This is part of an Asturian GR (109) and the camino follows this until just before Grandas. So, you get red and white markers along with normal camino ones. As you come down from Montefurado the path eventually hits the main road. The guide recommends staying on the road to Lagos. The camino indicates that you should take a track to the left. This goes below the road and eventually enters Lago by the cemetary. You pass the church and then zig zag your way up and through the village. Before you leave the village there is a bar-taverna on the left. From here you follow a track which keeps you off the main road for most of the way. Just before entering Berducedo, there was a rope across the route. To the left there was an overgrown track. We started down this, but it seemed to overgrown to be the camino. We returned to the rope and spoted a red and white marker. So we went under the rope. You come into Berducedo near the albergue (10 places according to another guide book and this looked more or less accurate). This was full as was the private albergue. So, we got to use our tent again. Some people walked onto Mesa (4 km later). This was also reported to be full. The restaurant in Berducedo is now closed. The two bar-grocery stores in town only serve sandwiches. We bought some food from the bar to cook in the albergue. Note: There is NOTHING in Mesa, so you have to buy food in Berducedo.
Day 7: Berducedo to Grandas de Salme (19.4 km) Aug 19
As we climbed up an over to La Mesa, we saw and amazing storm rip through on the right. The fog rolled in to Berducedo like something from a Stephen King movie. We got our rain capes on, but the storm passed us by. Then it turned into a nice hot day. Once you get to Mesa, there are changes in the route. Now, just after the albergue, you go up to Buspol via a tarmacked road. Near the church in Buspol, a well sign posted track takes you to the left for the descent to Presa de Embalsas. I didn´t find the descent bad at all, but was glad that I had walking poles. The signs for the GR109 very helfpully let you know how many kilometers you have walked from Berdecedo and how many you have left to Grandas. We checked out the viewing area for the dam. This is covered and would make a good bivy site. However, there was lots of grafitti, so maybe local kids hang out here. After you cross the dam and start your 6.6 uphill slog to Grandas you pass a hotel restaurant. This looked like a very nice place to stay. They are peregrino friendly and have a nice sello with a pilgrim (Hotel Las Grandas 98 562 72 30). You head to Grandas along the road until you hit the 2km road marker. The camino and GR109 then follow a good ziz zag track until just before you hit Grandas. TAKE NOTE. The GR109 turns off to the left down an overgrown track. Avoid this. Just go staight ahead and you hit Grandas. In Grandas, we treated ourselves to a hotel. We stayed at Hotel La Barra, Avda de la Costa number 4 (near the church) (985 62 71 96, hotel@labarrahotel.com. The owner is super nice and very peregrino friendly. He opens his cafe at 7 for passing peregrino traffic. He washed and dried our clothes for 6 euros and gave us a peregrino discount on the room (45 euros for a double with an ensuite, normally high season price is 55). The room was lovely. It had a TV and a balcony and was like a place after nights in albergues and the tent. We checked out the albergue. The hospitalero was very nice. The beds had filed up and he was putting people onto mattresses on the floor when we passed by. Some people continued onto Castro to stay at the Youth Hostel (which had a few spaces left). I can very highly recommend the Museo Ethnografico in Grandas. They also have a sello. One of the highlights is getting to go inside of a horrerro (a grain storage hut that you see all along the route). That night we ate at La Regada. Turn left just before the church. This has a menu for 12 euros. This is one of two places that were recommended. The other was La Paradilla, near the albergue.
I still have 3 more days to report on at this point but it is now time to get something to eat. I´ll continue at the next internet place. By the way, Lugo is a lovely place. We are having a rest day here. More about Lugo later.
We started in Villaviciosa in Asturias and I am using the Confraternity of Saint James Pilgrim Guide number 4. This is dated 2010, but it is quite out of date in places, so I took notes so that it could be updated. After I finish my series of posts, I´ll send the whole lot off to the confraternity. I am using the booklet version not the acrobat download. I noticed that when I downloaded the last update that the pages mentioned didn´t match up to those in my booklet, so I will also mention place names which will hopefully help. I should say something about the distances. These are all approximate. We have the Confraternity guide, info from Mundicamino and info from the hospitalero in Pola. None of the distances given agree with each other. This may be due to slight changes in the route.
Day 0: Fly Glasgow to Ovideo via Easy Jet. From the airport there are hourly buses (on the hour) to Oviedo and Gijon (separate buses). The bus stop is to the right as you leave the airport. We went to Gijon, got dropped off at the bus station and caught a bus there to Villaviciosa. We mananaged to pay for both trips on the bus. However, for the Villaviciosa segment, we were told that we should have bought a ticket at the office. This is on the same square as the buses, on the side where the back end of the buses point (hopefully this makes sense). Toilets are on the left side (bring your own paper!). In Villaviciosa, there is a new bus station, so we didn´t get dropped off where we expected. There is a map which can help you orient yourself and the locals are pretty helpful. A number of people recommended the Hostal el Sol on Calle El Sol (985 89 11 30). We paid 31 euros for a double without a bath. It is a great place, the people are nice and it is on the camino! So thanks for the recommendation. It was suggested that we phone up and book ahead. This was GREAT advice (thanks Mike! as we arrived on the weekend and the place was full. We met some quite desperate people at the tourist office who were looking for a place to stay as all the towns on the coast were full. I managed to get my CREDENCIAL at the Cafe Colon (a lady from the amigos del camino) does the issuing (bring your passport). This is in the plaza where the ayunatmento building is (left hand side of the plaza). This is an offical Asturias credenical. You can get sellos from the Cafe Colon or the tourist info office. While you are here you should at least have one bottle of cider (sidra). The waiter pours you a small amount from a high up in order to airiate the cider. You are supposed to swallow it before the fizz goes. We checked the route out of town to make sure we know where to go. It is pretty well marked with yellow arrows.
Day 1: Villaviciosa to Pola de Serio (27km) (Aug 14)
The Confraternidad info is more or less accurate for the beginning of the day. At Castiello (page 9) the bench is now fixed and it makes a nice sandwich eating stop. From here the route wants you to go to the monastry rather than to Ambas. The monastry in Valdedios has an albergue. It opens at 15:30 and you get kicked out at 8:15. You can get a sello from 19:30. There is a cafe bar just opposite the monastary. The owner was pulling into the drive as we walked by and he opened especially for us. He didn´t have a sello, but somehow managed to insert our credenciales into his cash register to give us a stamp. So 10 out of 10 for effort! At Vega de Sariego (Albergue has 24 places), it was the festa de Carmen Vega (the local Virgin Mary) so we were treated to a procession complete with people in traditiona Asturian dress while we had lunch a Taberna L Casura. We were here around 13:16 and were impressed that the local mini market was open (and had bread so fresh it was still warm). Near the Fuente del Romero after Vega THE ROUTE CHANGES from the description in the confraternidad booket. This is all very well way-marked. You follow the road until you arrive at El Castru. Here you turn right adn then almost immediately left to get into a section that goes on tracks and avoids the road. You come back onto the road for a short section near the sign that indicates that you have left Avero. Ignore the arrows that indicate that you should turn left into a barb wire fence. Continue on for 50m and you will see a turn off to the L. There are LOTS of arrows here. You cross a bridge and go up to the Ermita de Nra Senora de Bienvenir (nice picnic area). You descend on a zigzag dirt road which is followed by a gentle rise and then down to the puente medieval. You continue on the track and rejoin the road just before El Rebodal and its pool (mentioned in the Confraternidad Guide). There is a lovely and new albergue in Pola at the far end of town. Just follow the Confraternity instructions to the round about with the metal modern art sculpture. This is where the albergue is. It opened in June 2010. Juan, one of the hospitaleros was super helpful and gave us info sheets on the route, a map of Oviedo, and info on albergues. The Sidera Restaurant opposite does great meals, is very peregrino friendly and gave us a special discounted menu.
Day 2: Pola to La Venta del Escamplero (29km)(Aug 15)
We left the albergue at 7am and managed to arrive at El Berron 3.5km later by 7:50. The Cafe Cruz, on the route, was open for breakfast. The guide is accurate up to Colloto (note cafe bars on the camino as it winds through town). As you leave Collato there is a new round about and the very helpful arrows seem to end. You have to go to the far side of the round about and go under the motorway bridge and continue straight ahead. You start to pick up the occasional yellow arrow again, but they are pretty sparce here. You soon see the spires of the Cathedral of Oviedo just continue straight. You eventually end up about a block away from the Cathedral (Cathedral is on the left) (17.4 from Pola). Aug 15 is NOT a good time to be in Oviedo. It is a national holiday and most businesses were shut. On top of that, Oviedo was one of the gathering places for the World Youth Day. So the place was crawling with teenage pilgrims on their way to see the Pope. The Camera Sacra in the Cathedral was closed and we really struggled to find anyone who could tell us where to get a sello. All of the priests were imports. We eventually decided to enter the ´restricted`area in the hopes that someone local would be able to help us. We eventually met some guys in suits who took us to a side room to stamp our credenciales. Needless to say, we didn´t even try to get a place to stay in Oviedo, we just pushed onto the next albergue. Getting out of Oviedo is hard as it isn´t well marked. Why such a major pilgrimage town isn´t well sign posted is beyond us, but you think that the local amigos del camino would get thier act in gear here as the rest of the Primitivo is VERY well sign posted. The Confraternity instructions are very helpful here UNTIL you cross over the rail way at Arganosa station. Here some construction blocks the route and you have to do a detour. An arrow takes you left after the rail crossing and you have to loop around left again (essentialy doing an 180). You continue down a dual carriage way with a grassed area in between. You eventually rejoin the route at a part and then you hit the Lavapies stream. The locals here are used to lost looking peregrinos and they kept on pointing us in the right direction. After that, the route is well marked until you hit La Venta del Excamplero. We picked up the keys to the albergue at the Casa Fernando restaurant. You pay at the restaurat (3 euros) and they will stamp your credencial. The albergue was small and adequate but dirty. I gave the floor a good sweep. There were 7 peregrinos in total in the albergue. It sleeps 12 and costs 2 euros. We ate at Casa Fernando. The other bar mentioned in the guide was closed.
Day 3: Escamplero to San Salvador de Cornellana (24.5km) Aug 16
Here the route description in the Cofraternity guide is accurate at the begining of the day. At Permono, we found a very peregrino friendly bar with a sello (open at before 8am). When you get to Cueto you need to take note that there is more than one T junction. You need to turn L onto the road at the second T juntion. In Grado, you can get a sello from the tourist info kiosk. The Auto-Bar on the way out of town (on the Camino) also has a sello and does bar snacks. After Grado there are some changes to the Confraternity description due to road construction. This is all very well sign posted and you find yourself heading up to the pass at El Fresno. After El Fresno, I am happy to report that the original route that desends to the left and goes through San Marcelo (fountain at entrance) and La Doriga (bar-private albergue) is now the offical route and it is well marked. The private albergue, Ca Pacita (684 61 38 61) is very nice and the owner is a great guy. He has a nice sello. We thought about staying here but pushed on to Cornellana. The albergue in Cornellana is in part of the monastry. I have seen one guide book which says this has 24 beds. I didn't do a bed count to confirm this. The rooms are nice and big and there is a washing machine and cooking area. Unfortunately, Aug 16 was the last night of their local festival and we had to endure a rock marathon, which played until 8AM!!! just outside of our room. Even after a full day of walking, with a sleeping pill and ear plugs it was pretty difficult to get any sleep. Just to make things even more fun at 3am or so, some ´drunken youths´hopped over the secruity fence (a brave move given the big spikes on it) and released a fire extinguisher in one of the dorms (not ours thankfully). When we packed up and left, the music was still playing and the bar was still open. At least someone had a good night, but it wasn´t any of the peregrinos.
Day 4:Cornellana to Albergue de Bodenaya (17.4 km) (Aug 17)
Our original plan was to go to Tineo, but after a sleepless night, we decided for a short day and rather liked all of the positive reports about Bodenaya. As you leave the albergue and head to Cornelllana the camino goes to the left, just before the bridge that would take you to town. You walk along the river and from there there is good route marking to Quintana. This seems like a new part of the route which was no doubt put in place as a result of the construction of the new motorway. Just as you approach Salas there is now a signed area where you cross the main road and then you follow a lane until you hit the town. I´m happy to report that the old albergue is now closed and that a new one has been opened. There are signs advertising this as you enter town. After Salas, there are some route changes due to the motorway work. The info is accurate until you hit the main road at El Llanon. The bar mentioned in the guide is now closed. From here, you turn right and follow the main road which loops twice under the motorway and then you get directed onto a new dirt road. At a T juntion, you go L and follow the arrows. It looks like this diversion misses out Porcilles. We were rather wondering how far along we had gotten until we saw the metal shelter. We passed the church and then looped back and arrived at the Albergue de Bodenaya (13 beds). This place was GREAT! Alex was helped out by Antonio from Italy. There is a communal meal at 8 (vegetarian). Alex sells beer but no other food apart from the evening meal. At the mean, everyone has to decided what time everyone will get up. This system works very well. You also get a contental breakfast. The albergue and meals is all run on a donativo basis. This has 16 places and was full. The overflow walked to Espin and stayed in hotels.
Day 5:Bodenaya to Albergue de Borres (26 km) Aug 17
The Confraternity guide indicates that there may be some route changes due to road constrution. We just followed the arrows and managed to get to El Pedregal without any problems and then onto Tineo. There is a slip in the route for those who want to go to the albergue in Tineo. We stayed straight and eventually ended up in the main shopping area of town. We can confirm that the bar at Alto de Piedratecha is now a hairdressers. At this point we decided that we wanted to avoid yet another monastery (we still bore the scars of Cornellana) and that we wanted to shorten our route so we took the suggested alternative in the guide and stayed on the road to Villaluz. We had originally planned to stay in Camiello, but were informed that the albergue would be closed as the mother of the hospitalero had died. Casa Maximo in the guide now apears to be Casa Ricardo. They are very pilgrim friendly and have a good sello. Their shop has a good selection, so this is a good place to stock up for food if you are staying at Borres. We heard bad reports of the Algergue Hermania (´13 euros for a room with 25 others, not good value´). I can´t confirm this but the place did rather look like a warehouse from the outside. At El Fresno-Espin there was a bar with a picnic area across the road. In retrospect, this would have been a better place to spend the night than Borres. We took the road alternative to Borres. There are road works, so you don´t have a straight forward juntion. When you hit the main road, turn L. When we arrived at Borres, the place was packed and people were also on any spare space on the floor. It was also dirty. It DID have a sello, which is about the only good thing you can say about the place. It didn´t have any running water. I managed to get some by walking along the road until I found a house with a water hose that worked. Other people went back to the bar in El Fresno to buy water. There are no shops or facilities in Borres. The algergue has a microwave oven, but that is it for cooking. Thankfully, we had a tent and so stayed outside of the albergue. The hospitalero didn´t show up to charge any of us our fee.
Day 6: Borres to Berduceo (25.7 km) Aug 18
We decided to do the mountain route via Hospitales. This is a very lovely route and is VERY well sign posted. In fact, you would have to have visability down to 20m or less in order to miss the route. Most of it is on a track and the bits that are not on a track have pole markers very 10m or so. It is on a ridge so it wouldn´t be the best place in the world in a lightening storm, but otherwise I think that this route would be fine. In winter, I would probably want a map and compass, but without snow, route finding shouldn´t be a problem. One major issue is the lack of water. We had 2L each and were bone dry by the time we hit Montefurado. I would have been happier with 3L. I think that there must be some mistake in the guide when referring to the hospitales. La Paradella was in ruins byt Fonfaron looked OK. There looks like there is some work being done on the camino just before you hit Alto de la Marta. Once at the Alto, the arrows do indeed point you to the central path. When you hit the Porto del Palo, there is now a path to the left which will eventually take you to Monefurado. This avoids the road apart from the places where you have to cross. In Montefurado, there is water in someone´s yard, just after the church. The chap was quite nice about letting me have some. The guide suggested asking before taking water. One of the Italians said that his guidebook didn´t mention asking. He just took water and got shouted at. The last camino updated indicated that it seemed more than 2.2 km from Montefurado to Lago. There is now a sign that indicates that it is 4.1 km. This is part of an Asturian GR (109) and the camino follows this until just before Grandas. So, you get red and white markers along with normal camino ones. As you come down from Montefurado the path eventually hits the main road. The guide recommends staying on the road to Lagos. The camino indicates that you should take a track to the left. This goes below the road and eventually enters Lago by the cemetary. You pass the church and then zig zag your way up and through the village. Before you leave the village there is a bar-taverna on the left. From here you follow a track which keeps you off the main road for most of the way. Just before entering Berducedo, there was a rope across the route. To the left there was an overgrown track. We started down this, but it seemed to overgrown to be the camino. We returned to the rope and spoted a red and white marker. So we went under the rope. You come into Berducedo near the albergue (10 places according to another guide book and this looked more or less accurate). This was full as was the private albergue. So, we got to use our tent again. Some people walked onto Mesa (4 km later). This was also reported to be full. The restaurant in Berducedo is now closed. The two bar-grocery stores in town only serve sandwiches. We bought some food from the bar to cook in the albergue. Note: There is NOTHING in Mesa, so you have to buy food in Berducedo.
Day 7: Berducedo to Grandas de Salme (19.4 km) Aug 19
As we climbed up an over to La Mesa, we saw and amazing storm rip through on the right. The fog rolled in to Berducedo like something from a Stephen King movie. We got our rain capes on, but the storm passed us by. Then it turned into a nice hot day. Once you get to Mesa, there are changes in the route. Now, just after the albergue, you go up to Buspol via a tarmacked road. Near the church in Buspol, a well sign posted track takes you to the left for the descent to Presa de Embalsas. I didn´t find the descent bad at all, but was glad that I had walking poles. The signs for the GR109 very helfpully let you know how many kilometers you have walked from Berdecedo and how many you have left to Grandas. We checked out the viewing area for the dam. This is covered and would make a good bivy site. However, there was lots of grafitti, so maybe local kids hang out here. After you cross the dam and start your 6.6 uphill slog to Grandas you pass a hotel restaurant. This looked like a very nice place to stay. They are peregrino friendly and have a nice sello with a pilgrim (Hotel Las Grandas 98 562 72 30). You head to Grandas along the road until you hit the 2km road marker. The camino and GR109 then follow a good ziz zag track until just before you hit Grandas. TAKE NOTE. The GR109 turns off to the left down an overgrown track. Avoid this. Just go staight ahead and you hit Grandas. In Grandas, we treated ourselves to a hotel. We stayed at Hotel La Barra, Avda de la Costa number 4 (near the church) (985 62 71 96, hotel@labarrahotel.com. The owner is super nice and very peregrino friendly. He opens his cafe at 7 for passing peregrino traffic. He washed and dried our clothes for 6 euros and gave us a peregrino discount on the room (45 euros for a double with an ensuite, normally high season price is 55). The room was lovely. It had a TV and a balcony and was like a place after nights in albergues and the tent. We checked out the albergue. The hospitalero was very nice. The beds had filed up and he was putting people onto mattresses on the floor when we passed by. Some people continued onto Castro to stay at the Youth Hostel (which had a few spaces left). I can very highly recommend the Museo Ethnografico in Grandas. They also have a sello. One of the highlights is getting to go inside of a horrerro (a grain storage hut that you see all along the route). That night we ate at La Regada. Turn left just before the church. This has a menu for 12 euros. This is one of two places that were recommended. The other was La Paradilla, near the albergue.
I still have 3 more days to report on at this point but it is now time to get something to eat. I´ll continue at the next internet place. By the way, Lugo is a lovely place. We are having a rest day here. More about Lugo later.