The Song in My Head: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes - Crosby, Stills & Nash
Quote of the Day: Dalmatians
Today’s (Random) Craving/Memory: Frat house life and its chaotic unpredictability
Total Steps: 50,636 steps
Total Walking Distance: 23.3 miles / 37.5 kilometers
⏰ Wake Up: 6:30am
💤 Sleep: 12:00am
Hey.
Woke up, 6:30am, ate breakfast, said bye to Duncan. Then went to take the tent from Josefine and Rosie, and got on the road.
Starting slow. With an extra 3 kilos of weight on my back I’ve gotta get my body used to the weight and make sure i don’t injure myself.
I’ll probably also be throwing some stuff away when I get to the donativo.
The first part of today’s trek was industrial. And I was walking on the road for most of the time. Nothing crazy, came across some wild psycho dogs, but vibes were high and I was walking down the street whistling Ahora Te Puedes Marchar.
I then took a wrong turn. It led me up a dirt road. When I got back on trail Josefine was right behind me.
We chatted, and continued to walk.
We talked about so many things like movies, music, her experience on the Norte, dream houses, and spiritual beliefs. Even debated about cruise ships. And laughed about the English words she doesn’t know how to pronounce.
We took a couple breaks, for her to charge her phone and to get some snacks. I have so much food in my pack so I just ate most of that.
We stopped again in Avilés and played 500 and had a coffee. Then we finished up the walk and arrived at a donativo albergue at 5pm.
This place was such a vibe. They offered us beers and ice cream when we arrived.
We checked in and I found out that a lot of people from the Frances have migrated to the Norte as well, and have been staining our reputation.
We are considered tourigrinos, tourist peregrinos. Apparently the people ahead of me from the Frances have been very disrespectful and we were given that name.
Anyways, we got our beds, did laundry and showered, and played some cards outside and stretched.
Then it was dinner time at 7pm.
We had some vegetable soup with rice and eggs. It was really good.
I met some awesome people, one of them was also from Michigan.
We then had dessert, some yogurt, then helped clean up and we all went walking to the cliffs to see an overlooking view of Salinas. It was gorgeous. The clouds were so beautiful.
We all then went back and I grabbed my laundry from outside and cleaned up. I found a keyboard in the little living room and played it for a bit. It wasn’t an actual piano but it did the job.
Then I played uno with some of the guys in the albergue. It was o intense. I was getting teamed up on though, and didn’t end up winning any games hahaha.
Then it was 10:30pm, and I got ready for bed.
Today was amazing.
The walk was great, it was so nice being able to walk slow, not worrying about beating the heat and getting to my destination early, compared to the Francés.
This route is much more calm, peaceful, and welcoming. The paths are less crowded, albergues are smaller. I sense a stronger community on the trail. And I’m super stoked for that.
Tomorrow I will walk to Muros de Nalón. I’m taking a coastal detour there so it’ll be about 23km. Then I’ll hang out there until dusk, and walk ahead to look for a place to pitch my tent and camp.
My goal is to save as much money as possible on the rest of this Camino. Plus I love camping so this will be so much fun.
Getting up at 6:30am, breakfast at 7am.
See y’all then,
David