Camino de Santiago del Norte
Day 22 of our Adventure: WALK!!
CAMINO Day 14
Saturday September 23, 2017
Expected: 20km / 12.5 miles / 6 hour
Actual: 17 miles, 7 hours
Total Ascent: 1968 ft.
Total Descent: 1017 ft.
Difficulty Rating: Terrain 3; Waymarking: 2
Scenery Rating: 3
Salas to Tineo
The guidebook says: “Today’s walk provides a welcome rest between yesterday’s hills and tomorrow’s mountains. The route leads along quiet country roads and forested footpaths, but beware that after rain the route into Tineo can turn from a pleasant stroll into a slow and muddy slog.”
They weren’t kidding! Mike almost lost one trekking pole, and I really did feel like the mud was going to take my shoes right off. There was no escape, no alternate route. I had switched to my second pair of trail runners this morning because my first pair was getting a little loose and a small blister was starting to form from the rubbing. After 200 miles it was time to change to a newer pair. Note how clean and new they look after about 8 miles. At one point Mike told me to stop. I figured he was going to wipe the mud off my legs. No, he wanted to take a picture of them!
We walked most of the day with an interesting man, Josephe from Verona, Italy. He is a retired airline pilot who lived in Texas for 3 years. He has done almost ALL of the Caminos! There are 12 “main” Caminos, and other less-traveled options. This is the first time he’s doing the Primitivo. He is in the 2nd half of a 1500-kilometer Camino!
We are starting to see a lot of horreos, typical granaries mainly seen in Asturias and Galicia, built in wood or stone, raised from the ground by pillars, ending in flat stones to avoid the access of rodents. Many of these structures are thousands of years old.
We arrived in Tineo (not very well marked) and didn’t realize that all we had to do was walk down a steep cobblestone street to the town…. So we continued up an equally steep road, and finally asked someone if Tineo was ahead. She said no, it was back down the hill. AHA! As a result, we walked a little extra today to get to the Hotel y Spa Palacio de Meras.
It’s up through the mountains to Pola de Allande tomorrow.
Souper Power 