On the Lebaniego, most people seem to take a shortcut from Lebena running near the road on to Potes.
Unless the routing ”near the road” has changed, I would strongly advise against walking. It was hair-raising, right up there with the two or three most ridiculously dangerous stretches I have walked on caminos. The road is narrow, through a gorge, there is/was a ton of truck traffic.
and she probably moans a lot about how much tarmac there is, but otherwise superb of course..
Yes, you know me, Tom! There is a lot of tarmac/asphalt, really a lot, at least there was when I walked. But the beautiful exceptions were the stretches after the monastery and up to the pass at the Senda da Remoña.
I know that there was a lot of chatter about re-routing the Vadiniense to get it off the side of the road, but I don’t know if that happened. Particularly on the later stages into Gradefes and onward to Mansilla. I would be really interested to hear updates, because I think that 80% of the Vadiniense was asphalt when I walked it. Usually not on busy roads, but roads nonetheless.
I remember one very pleasant riverside path somewhere after Riaño and before Crémenes, and I think I remember coming upon an old abandoned fishing hut that had been used by Francisco Franco when he was dictator.
When I walked the Vadiniense, the coal industry in Spain was heaving its last gasp. The abandoned coal mine outside Cistierna was stark evidence. Hulking abandoned machinery and buildings everywhere. Cistierna itself is a mining town that has never recovered, like so many others in this part of Spain. If you walk the Salvador, Olvidado, or Vadiniense you will see it clearly. But I have to say that in spite of its declining economic vitality, Cistierna always has struck me as a town with a positive ambiente and friendliness to pilgrims.
I have stayed in the albergue in Cistierna, but my go-to place here is the Hotel Moderno. Its restaurant has a delicious menú del día and the staff is so friendly. When I checked in in 2019, and told the woman at the desk I had been here before and wouldn’t miss the meal, she looked at me and said — oh yes I remember you, I took a tick out of your back the last time you were here!
Sorry for the walk down memory lane. These are the little snippets that pile up inside and make for an overwhelming nostalgia to get back on the camino!