Reaching the coast around lunch time, we stopped at the picturesque and very popular fishing village of Cudillero. A collection of pastel coloured houses hanging on to the sides of a steep valley, it was heaving with Sunday tourists and it took us a little while to find the car park which necessitated a short walk along the coast back to the village proper.
Seafood was very much the flavour of the day and after lunch and a glass of wine we were on our way again.
Trying to decide where to base ourselves on the Asturian coast had proven to be a challenge but in the end I had booked a cute little place near the town of Luanco. I hoped it would prove to be a location that would facilitate day trips to my ‘hit list’ locations whilst still allowing us to unpack and enjoy five days in the same lodging. I was a little anxious about the owner’s directions but we actually found it pretty easily and after unloading the car Fiona and I ventured down to Luanco, a few minutes drive away.
Sunday afternoon/evening didn’t afford us a lot of choices for dinner but we made do and scoped the (closed) supermarket out for supplies the next day.
A glass of wine on our deck was a fitting way to end what had been a long day.
Over the course of the next few days we ranged along the coast to various locations that I had uncovered through hours of (very enjoyable) research at home. My holidays actually start in this phase 😍
The first of these was Cathedral Beach or Playa de las Catedrales. Situated in the Galicia province, low tide exposes a series of rock formations resembling cathedral ‘flying buttresses’ as well as caves and interesting sandy beaches making it a very popular destination. So much so that (free) tickets are required in order to limit the number of visitors during peak times. Despite visiting mid week it was quite busy, I can only imagine what full capacity would look like.
We spent a pleasant couple of hours on the beach (with one of us in more appropriate footwear than the others 😂 until the tide started to come in.
Using my favourite app again (Locationscout) we detoured off the main road and with my newfound penchant for lighthouses, navigated our way to the scenic Faro de Ribadeo.
The walk to the lighthouse was a little longer than normal and parking a little more challenging as workers were in the process of upgrading the main car park.
Once we got there though, apart from a couple of guys fishing in what looked like a somewhat precarious position, there was no one to spoil this rugged, windswept spot.
Locationscout had also shown me another great photo opportunity a little further along the coast, heading east back toward our lodging, so we set off in search of the Horreo de la Regalina.
I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned them before but we saw many horreos throughout our travel on the Iberian Peninsula…
“An hórreo is a typical granary from the northwest of the Iberian Peninsula (Asturias, Galicia, where it might be called a Galician granary, and Northern Portugal), built in wood or stone, raised from the ground (to keep rodents and water out) by pillars ending in flat staddle stones to prevent access by rodents. Ventilation is allowed by the slits in its walls.”
It was not the easiest one to find as it turned out and particularly problematic were the lack of public toilets en route but that’s another story….
However, sometimes when you are lost you find the best places and we did just that, coming across this beautiful beach with a tiny little bar tucked away just around the corner complete with what passed for a toilet out the back.
Sufficiently rehydrated and bladder sorted, we resumed the search and lo and behold a couple of kilometres up the hill and indeed looking over the beach we had just found, was the Horreo de la Regalina.
A landslide here in 2021 left the horreo in a very tenuous position so the community raised funds to dismantle and rebuild it in its current position, just down the field from the lovely little chapel, Ermita de la Regalina, built in 1931 by pilgrims on the Northern Way.
I for one thought it was worth the search and spent some time happily snapping away until the lengthening shadows reminded us that we had a few miles yet to cover before ‘home.’
The following day we exchanged coastal scenery for a more urban scene when we visited the city of Oviedo.
Oviedo is the capital city of the Principality of Asturias and the administrative and commercial centre of the region. It has a population of around 220,000, a very long and interesting history (having been settled in the seventh century), beautiful architecture and was also the home of Fernando Alonso of Formula One fame!
For us, (well Fiona and I,) it was a chance to do a little window shopping and maybe some retail therapy prior to our cultural walk around town.
Not only is Oviedo one of the cleanest cities in Spain (officially) but it has an incredible number of street sculptures making it a veritable open air museum. Subjects include Woody Allen, famous historic characters, horses, dogs, ‘fat bottomed girls’ and the traveller.
We found the famous cafe Rialto for lunch and a taste of their iconic moscovita biscuits -these fine marcona almond and chocolate-coated pastries have been made by Rialto confectionery for almost 100 years and we can vouch for their deliciousness!
Suitably refreshed we continued on to find yet another cathedral, this time the Cathedral of San Salvador. With origins dating back to the 8th century and with many modifications/restorations since, it was a feast for the eyes.
The bronze scallop shell symbols embedded in paving and cobblestones are everywhere in the towns and cities of this region, proudly reminding us that we are on the Camino de Santiago, the Pilgrims Route, (also the Way of Saint James.)
We saw hundreds of people making their way along the various sectors of the pilgrims route in Spain and Portugal, their backpacks adorned with real scallop shells.
These days the walk is extremely popular for both the devout and the not so devout who just like a good hike.
We put our best foot forward and can claim to have traversed many short sections of the Camino 😉 Tomorrow we will begin our drive to the common destination of all pilgrims on this route, Santiago de Compostela.