Yesterday, September 27, we walked in light rain and cool (65°) from Navia to Tapia de Castariego. Both are fishing ports (neither as dramatic as Luarca) but Tapia thrusts out furthest on a slim peninsula. This morning the temperature is only 49° at waking, so the seasonal change is felt.

The maize is being harvested (Ed is hoping to witness the process in person) and we walk by fields of bronzed stubble. Occasional song birds break the silence.

We were happy to celebrate Mass last night in Tapia’s parish church, San Esteban. The last five nights did not offer Mass opportunities. We have been walking through even more remote, small places with few people compared to the first two weeks.

The quality of the seafood in small places next to the fish landing spots is delightful. Navia’s famous (we were told) El Chikren del Puerta has only a small sign on its door, obscured when the door is left open. The navarones (razor clams) were amazing. Tapia’s La Marina answered with Sopa de Pescadore and rabadolla (turbot).

What’s this? You may remember our story from the first Camino of Anne’s unfortunate experience in the top bunk at an albuergue, the most modest level of pilgrim lodging. At an albuergue, on a first-come basis, a pilgrim can get a bed for about 12 Euros including shared showers and toilets. Sheets, pillows and blankets may, or more likely, may not be included.

After our early experience in 2015 that also included a cacaphony of snorers and a bad night’s sleep for Anne, we have mostly reserved ahead at casa rurales or pensions (modest lodgings with private rooms). But last night, deep into the Camino del Norte along the inland portion in a little town called Lourenza, we enjoyed a flashback to an bunk bed albuergue.

This one was pretty nice, with beds actually anchored to the walls rather than freely swaying from side to side, and both bottom and top sheets! And we each got a bottom bunk, hooray. Our roommate was a young German woman who had walked 40 kms that day (almost 25 miles) because the albuergue she assumed would have space for her was full, and the next one was 10 miles further! Ouch!

Although the TV playing at our modest dinner location announced scary predictions of Hurricane Lorenzo threatening Galicia, our walk today was under sunny skies with cooler temperatures (63°) and some wind.

Today’s walk was an up and down hill day which resulted in our walking from the valley floor up and out of that valley into the next one. The elevation change was about 800 to 900 feet but the up and down terrain meant that we walked up at least twice that much. You can see the valley in the next photo.

Today was another good day on the Camino. We think every day of all of our family and friends with joy. What a blessing to walk quietly and to recall the good (and not so good) times we have shared. Thanks to all of you for all that we have shared.

On Saturday we left the beautiful province of Asturias to enter Galicia. Asturias –apple capital of Spain, as you will recall — has a stunning coastline and abundant hilly and even mountainous terrain. Naturally, it has an indigenous language (Asturiana), foods and customs. We have been surprised, however, at the extent to which fields of ripening maize adjoin cow pastures almost to the top of the shoreline cliffs.

Ed has been very curious as to how the maize is harvested, so imagine our pleasure when we encountered an active harvesting operation on our last day in the province! In case you are wondering, it turns out that the entire stalks, ripened ears and all, are cut, ground and stored as animal feed.

Leaving Asturias, in which we have walked for 15 days, not only means a nostalgic goodbye, but a somewhat harrowing walk over a long and high highway bridge over the estuary of the River Eo to the beautiful port town of Ribadeo. (The walkway is only wide enough for one person, and the outer rail is only at waist height.)

On the other side, however, we have been rewarded with gorgeous views of the salmon-rich estuary, sea birds and hills and mountains stretching into the distance. Since dawn happens around 8:25 am, we witnessed the sun coming up over the bridge to set the water sparkling.

Only nine more days to Santiago.

A long walk brought us close to Wednesday’s destination of Luarca. We decided to use Ed’s newly acquired Spanish SIM card to find our way through the town rather than directly to Apartamentos La Capitaine. Mistake???

Turning a corner, we gasped at the beautiful little port laid out far below. There had been no hint of the beauty — or elevation change — until that moment.

Naturally, we plunged down the hill to investigate. Later, we were ready to call it a day. We bought some groceries because the apartamento was supposed to have a kitchen and might be a distance from town.

Not only were we on the wrong side of the Rio Negro at this point, but faced another steep climb. And when we arrived, no one was there; the place was locked up tight.

No worries. Ed made a few Spanish phone calls, we waited, and Ángel and Josefa appeared. (It took a while for them to figure out how the stove worked, and meanwhile a concerned neighbor had called the Policía because two suspicious people — us– had been hanging around.) But the evening had a happy ending and we slept well!

We resumed our Camino pilgrimage on September 24 after a rest day. It rained on our rest day and that night. We thought that there might be some mud so both of us wore our water proof/resistant boots. We had another day of up and down but the slopes were not as radical or as many as we experienced on our last walking day. We started late and walked into Cadavedo around 5:00 pm.

We did need our boots. See attached photos of parts of the trail. We had barro (mud), brambles, and beaches as we walked.
We checked into our hotel. No wifi.

We went out to the only restaurant in town and had a variation of the “Pilgrim Menu”. It was filling. There was a great sunset

Tomorrow we walk to Luarca.

Triumph and Drama in Rome and the Vatican

As we walk out each day during our 8 days in Rome, we encounter rain and sun,  chilliness and heat. We walk through the ancient Forum, remnants of empire, and skirt the construction site of expansion of Rome’s modern Metro system,  Linea C. The Vatican Museums and St Peter’s Basilica are together probably the most…

by Anne Li October 18, 2026October 20, 2026

Rome: Caravaggio to the Max

It’s a good thing that Ed scheduled 8 days in Rome for us at the end of our Camino Caravaggio. Not only is it among our favorite cities in the world, but in her can be found the largest number of Carravaggios open to public view: 20 paintings in 8 venues. We walk to most…

by Anne Li October 17, 2026October 17, 2026

Caravaggio on the Mainland of Italy

In the last post we promised to tell you why our crossing of the Straits of Messina from Sicily to the mainland of Italy was so exciting. As a master of fact,  everyone who travels this route by train gets a treat: the entire train, carriages and passengers, is shunted into a giant ferry boat…

by Anne Li October 12, 2026October 15, 2026

We walked from Muros de Nalon to Soto de Luina today. It was a very difficult walk. It was about 16 – 17 km but it was up and down hills all day long. Most had very steep slopes of 10°, 20°, and some were 30° and more. The path was filled with loose rocks and stones, many roots, leaves and in places, mud (barro). Our legs are really tired. Today was the 6th day in a row that we walked, so we are glad to have a scheduled rest day! Not to mention rain in the forecast…

Our approach to each day is to start around 10:00 am and to walk without stopping for rest until we get to our destination. Today we walked for about 6.25 hours. We carry food and water and stop only to take a drink or get the food out of the backpacks. If we were to stop longer and sit down our joints would stiffen up. Experience tells us that it takes a while to get loose again, so we just don’t stop.

We are almost half way to Santiago. We will walk 5 days in a row starting on Tuesday. Then a day off. Next we walk 4 days and then take a day off. Then we walk for 3 days and walk into Santiago de Campostela on the last day of this Camino.

We felt impelled to take a detour off the Camino del Norte to visit Oviedo, one of the most storied locations in Spain. The cathedral (seen above) is wonderful. Its huge altarpiece presents 23 scenes of the Life of Jesus and the Virgin which are more brilliant and eloquent than any movie or video. Its Sacred Chamber holds many priceless relics. Although bombed at least twice (once during the Civil War and later by anarchists) its antechamber is decorated with wonderful stone sculptures of the Apostles talking, two by two.

Artists from Burgos, our favorite city along the Camino Frances, were brought in to decorate Oviedo’s cathedral. The Apostles chamber has been compared to the Portico della Gloria of the Cathedral of Santiago de Campostela. We are anxious to see that Portico on this Camino: it will be our third try as it had been under major restoration during both our previous visits.

God is smiling on us during our Camino. First, the weather has been almost completely dry and there has been very little mud (“la boue” in France, fango in Italy and barro in Spain). Second, the circus has been following us from one small town to another, and then our overnights have coincided with the town’s major annual festival three different times. (Lots of fireworks and drinking.)

Most significantly, when we inquired about mass last night in Oviedo, we learned that it was the penultimate night of the sacred week during which worshippers at Oviedo receive a plenary indulgence. If you don’t know what that means, let’s just say that we are very lucky, indeed.

We had to catch a bus yesterday. The photo above shows Ed waiting at the stop. A sliver of the Atlantic ocean –actually, the Bay of Biscay– can be seen in the distance. The man who walked by was a local farmer (retired) using a staff.

After starting with a heavy downpour, the day turned partly sunny and very humid. While southern Spain has suffered from huge rains and floods, our northern slice has been blessed with good weather. There are still a stunning variety of wildflowers and only a few traces of autumn, seen in the bountiful apples, pumpkins and tomatoes we pass on the road.

A long and steep climb was rewarded with a visit to one of the oldest churches on the Camino. In San Salvador at the top of the hill in tiny La Priesca, 9th century frescoes can still be seen. The colors and shapes are faded but lovely. It’s amazing that they have survived more than 1,000 years, despite the local humidity!

Today, September 17, we walked to La Isla. Most of the walk was near to the sea and on paths – not on pavement. We have walked for 6 days, about 90 Km, and taken trains or bus or taxi about 45 Km. 

We spent our first rest day in Ribadesella yesterday and met our Camino friends Julio and Luz there for dinner. What a great coincidence that they were having a short vacation from their home in Madrid and were in Ribadesella when we arrived. We are looking forward to seeing them again in Madrid in early October.

The paths from Santander has been over hilly terrain and our legs have been tired at the end of each day. After yesterday’s rest day we were in better shape today and our legs seems to be getting used to the daily distances.

Walking today in rural Asturias away from any highways was quiet. We heard the bells from cows and sheep as we passed the farms. We heard birds singing and water running in the streams as we passed. The waves from the Atlantic greeted when we were close to the ocean. It was a quiet, peaceful day. 

We think of Mary MacDonald every day as we walk. We are also thinking of all our family and friends. In the peaceful and quiet time we are enjoying we are able to say prayers for all, to remember each one of you, see your faces and think of the good times we have shared.

Life is good on the Camino. No distractions. No rain so far. No significant barro (mud) yet. Good weather.

We will be walking to Oviedo this week. That was a  very important place in the history of Spain.

Our friend, Rafa, who had given us so many wonderful suggestions for our journeys through Spain, urged us while in Comillas (end of Day 2) not to miss el Capricho de Gaudi. This residence, one of the artist’s early creations, was dubbed by the locals as Caprice of Gaudi because it seemed so fanciful and impractical.

Crowned with a minaret and covered with bright sunflowers, the house is a burst of color and curving lines. Inside, it is amazingly practical and comfortable, with innovations like double-hung windows whose counterweights play musical tones and interior shutters that roll into curved cases like sidewise roll top desks.

Tragically, the wealthy lawyer, Massimo, who commissioned the house, lived there only one week before succumbing to illness. Massimo was an “Indiano,” an to immigrant to Spain from the New World (probably Cuba). So here in Comillas we see a century and half old example of the persistence and creative benefits of human migration.

Gaudi loved and appreciated the beauty of Islamic culture and art and married Islamic elements with Western European to create loveliness and joy.