and being was simply a fantastic day…could not have gone better. We walked 27 km in 5.75 hours or a respectable 4.6 kms per hour.
Oh and last night bought a replacement charging cord and new North Face fleece jacket…snazzy blue with full frontal zipper instead of pullover kind…better style for a senior!
Both Paulo and I were walking strongly…handled the ascents and the descents well the latter which are always trickier on knees etc. Sure a few aches but that is totally expected.
Here is the Wikiloc summary:
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| Day 1 Oviedo to Grado |
Wikiloc GPS tracking worked great leaving Oviedo as it always difficult following the Camino in a city…followed the tracks and stayed on course.
The weather forecast was poor so the Packa was on the backpack ready to open up to my rain jacket…however the rain never came and the Packa was removed at our first rest stop.
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| For the life of me I could NOT figure out how to repackage the Packa so I did the best I could on the trail! Last night in Oviedo we stayed at the Green Hostel which I would certainly recommend except for the breakfast. Yikes not much to choose from so I took a mini muffin wrapped in plastic (you know the crummy kind) and proceeded to eat it. Halfway through I thought this isn’t very good (I am not a fussy eater)…I then realized that I was chewing on the paper around the bottom of the cupcake. I rationalize it as « It happens to the best of us »😂 Our starting pictures…   A highlight of the day was meeting other Camino walkers…more than I expected. Fun to introduce oneself … walk 15 minutes or so with someone…then go your own way knowing that paths may/may not cross again. Also for me a chance to blab about past walks 😂 as the common question is « have you walked past Caminos? » Why yes do you have a couple of hours to hear my stories? Sometimes we get to how old I am …do 65? This is my favourite because I get a WHAT? look. I don’t tell them that I feel 85 or act like I am 10…just my age😂 So we met… Gabriel - Scotland second Camino (Portuguese earlier this year)…young guy with a passion for football Paige & Jess - North Carolina U.S. young women first Camino Simon - Munich Germany age 70. Very interesting as he walked from Munich to Santiago de Compostela over 6 trips. In doing so he walked from Rorschach Switzerland to Santiago on the 4 Camino routes that I walked in 2013/2014…small world! Andrew & Anne - England Already walking 3 weeks on the Camino Norte Martin & Martina - Bavaria Germany. Martin is 68…they have been walking for 3 weeks on Camino Norte Martin - Germany. Just met in Albergue in reception area as I was having trouble communicating with Reception Desk. My request was simple “I am checked in…have been to room…went out for a while and now have no clue where my room is…can you help me?” Again this can happen to anyone and Martin stepped as translator…I asked him if he worked here…no he is walking like me…we had a good laugh! Over the next days we will likely see many of these people again…some will become good friends over 12 days…will have some pictures…here is first one. |
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| Paulo and Gabriel Other than that a very quiet day…no dangerous animal encounters…some tricky road walking at the end…ie not much room but drivers were very good in slowing down. My favourite number is 3…when making decisions I think having 3 options works best otherwise it’s too difficult. So in preparation for this Camino I have (note to reader this may well be too much information- but it’s my blog) 3 pairs of socks, underwear and pants. However I have only 2 t-shirts…why I did this I don’t really know. I suspect this is simply due to trying to scale down the weight while forgetting some important facts. For example it is not always possible to wash clothes in the evening…first night in Oviedo too tired…second day t-shirt needs washing after a long days walk so now what 2 t-shirts to wash and NO extra t-shirt. This is called “a problem that Guy created all by himself” 😞 Thankfully Paulo had a solution as he has 4 t-shirts!
Finally…have no idea how this discussion came about but Paulo had a proposal for me which involves my family. He said that he would be happy to carry 25 grams of my ashes on the Camino when I am toast. Sooo…I counter proposed that I should have the same option to carry his ashes should he become toast before me. We shook hands on it and Paulo has already discussed with his wife Andrea. Funny how a cerveza and being tired affects one 😂🤔 So I leave this post with a few pictures…nice countryside in many spots…good trails…on to tomorrow and Salas!                   |
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