How Did It End?

Well, that was an anticlimactic ending to a blog, wasn’t it?

The last I wrote, I had just glimpsed the Pyrenees and was joyfully happy that the flat forest of Les Landes was behind me.  A couple of days after that I arrived in St. Jean Pied-de-Port to an overwhelming amount of pilgrims and tourists, and the start of a new kind of adventure, abruptly transitioning from a solitary journey to a shared one.

I’d like to say walking the Camino Frances exceeded my expectations, but it didn’t.  I enjoyed it, I met wonderful people, I sighed dreamily over the Spanish landscape; but I had already experienced months of beauty and tranquility, without the Pilgrim-littered trash behind every bush.  My meditative days were over, and I was just another in the crowd.  A different journey, a nice one, but different.

The reason I didn’t update my blog again wasn’t because I had nothing to write, but because I was having back problems and I sent my netbook home to La Coruña.  Without my tent, sleeping pad, and netbook life became much easier, although my sciatica left me struggling through Spain for the rest of the month.  (Even now, I cannot get back to running because my back is too messed up).

As for the month of September, most of that I’ll keep private.  I love writing about my travels, but keeping some things only for me is nice as well.

I hope you enjoyed reading something about my adventure, and I hope that it showed some hesitant travelers that crazy-sounding ideas really aren’t that crazy at all.  Doing something outside the box brings great rewards.  Sleeping in a tent every night should be seen as a blessing, not a struggle.  Sometimes all you need to be happy are some good walking shoes and a block of cheddar cheese (my main food source in England).  That cool things happen when you walk for a long time alone, like someone picking you up on a motorcycle to give you a private chateau tour.

In closing, I want to thank everyone who donated to the Trailblazer Foundation.  Traveling is an integral part of my life, and my happiness, and it means a lot to me to be able to give back to a place which I have traveled through.  I hope by donating you also felt connected to the world, wherever you may be reading from.  We are all a lot closer than you think.

June 4: Picos de Europa– Lagos de Covadonga and Refugio Vegarredonda

Covadonga, Asturias

After two days in the Picos de Europa, I can’t get the ringing of cow bells out of my ears.  After a night in the mountain refuge of Vegarredonda,  we got a ride down with a thin and ponytailed herdsman and his two border collies.  I asked him how many cows were around there.  

“When all are up the mountain, there are 5,000,” he answered.  “But the weather has been bad, so they aren’t all  here.”  

We met a lot of those cows the past two days, clanging their bells like a calypso band, echoing through the valleys, and bellowing like malfuncioning car alarms.  

Besides cows we saw mountains.  It was divine.  We trudged up long grassy slopes, and took in prime Asturian scenery.  There were cows there too.  

Also, we accidentally went on a really, really long hike.  From Covadonga we decided to take a trail up to the Lagos de Covadonga instead of hitchhiking.  7 hours later we were there!

 

Our hike wasn’t over though, as we still had 2 and 1/2 hours until the refugio.  The mountains were hidden in clouds, and we had no idea what exactly we were climbing.  (We ended up going about 4,000 feet that day).  

We reached the snow line, and finally the refugio, as well as its three staff, two guests, one dog, and three horses.  We did not have a view. 

But then morning came!  And it was beautiful.  

 

Moooooooo.

June 1-2: La Coruña to Avin

June 1: La Coruna to Villaviciosa

Rachel and I started our hitchhiking attempt on Saturday a little late, because of me.  I was late, getting everything finally packed and moving everything out of the piso.  By noon we were on the side of busy Alfonso Molina, not the best place to hitch, but within an hour we got a ride to Betanzos, where within minutes we got another long ride with a young couple, Catuxa and Pablo, to Ribadeo, up in the north of Galicia, and on the border with Asturias.

From Ribadeo we got a ride with a very nice young man, Hector, to a side-of-the-road type of place, where within two minutes we got another lift with Pedro, an energetic English-speaker who invited us to both a multicultural party and an evening screening of the movie Paper Moon, as well as a place to crash.  Though tempting, we decided to keep on moving. He did however make a detour with us to Luanco so he could show us how pretty it was.  

Raul playing tour guide.

Next was dear Raul, who decided it was his time to play tour guide, and drove us to pretty villages and up misty mountains, (although there was no view), and to a coastal viewpoint, before finally saying, “Alright, now towards Aviles.”  Finally.

In Aviles the evening was quickly approaching, and we munched cheese and tortillas by the side of the road.  Just as we were giving up hope, beautiful Beatriz stopped with a ride to Villaviciosa, where she offered us a place to sleep in the bottom of her Grandmother’s beautiful country house.

A room with a view in Coru, near Villaviciosa. Thanks Bea!

 

June 2:  Villaviciosa to Avin

In the morning we awoke bright in early to get a ride back into Villaviciosa with Beatriz before she went off to work, and then we waited and waited and waited, which is what you do when you try to hitchhike on a Sunday morning in Spain.  After about 3 hours we got a ride to Lastres, right ahead of a bus which we gladly embarked.  Finally were arrived in Ribadesella, going about 20 kilometers in 4 hours.

Ribadesella is a fine place to pass a few hours, for the beautiful scenery for one, but also because of the remarkable Palaeolithic cave drawings at la Cueva de Tito Bustillo.

Since photos aren’t allowed in the caves, I only have this to show: 

Getting out of Ribadesella was slow, and just as Rachel had just about had enough of standing with her thumb out, we got a ride.  The new theory is, just as Rachel expresses her desire to quit, a car will pull up and help us out.

Cangas de Onis

At the end of the day we find ourselves at a campsite, nearly empty, with a nice dueña and a warm fireplace inside the restaurant.  It may be June, but it ain’t summer here.