Mountains in sight - Day 99 to day 101

Day 99 – Oviedo to Grado (28,7 km) – Saturday 07.10.2023

At 8 a.m. I got up, packed everything up and had some breakfast from the rest of my things in the room. Then I left the hotel and walked to the city’s cathedral.

Once there, I first looked at the impressive church from the inside. It was richly decorated with gold and looked very majestic to me. After I had walked through the cathedral once and looked at everything there, I left again.

Outside I met a pilgrim for the first time for the day, with whom I had a direct conversation. As he told me, he actually came from Bordeaux and was on his way back from Santiago. Like me, he has been traveling for 3 months, but will now end his trip and not walk the rest of the way home because he is slowly getting fed up with his bad sleeping pad. In addition, his backpack gave up the ghost and his shoes were also badly damaged. He then told me about the great landscapes I could expect and gave me a few tips about water sources and sections of the trail that I shouldn’t miss. As it turned out at the end of the conversation, the other crazy guy was also called Florian, which we both had to laugh about. Later, another pilgrim with a dog joined us, which I would see more often today. After a few more minutes, I said goodbye to both of them and finally started walking.

It was now almost 11:30 and I hadn’t yet completed a kilometer of my tour. The following kilometers went first out of the city and then further along small paths through cow pastures. There I always had a beautiful view of the surrounding area and walking was much easier today than in the last few days. I was happy that I no longer had any health problems and could finally walk somewhat normally again. I sit on a bench at a chapel and make myself a relaxing coffee for the first time in a long time.

On the way again, I met pilgrim Jan from Holland. The last time I saw him was a few weeks ago. Apparently I had left him behind, but due to my illness he caught up with me again. He asked me directly what had happened, as he expected me to be out of the woods by now. I briefly explained everything to him and then continued my journey again after a few minutes.

Then we went through the quiet and shady forest. In the warm weather I quickly found myself sweating on the climbs and I realized that I was still not completely fit. So after almost 20 km I treated myself to a small cold drink in a pilgrim restaurant.

After the short break, we first walked along a river, which I crossed shortly before my destination. When I arrived in Gardo, I bought a few things for the evening and then left the town to look for a place to sleep outside of the city.

I picked out a “scenic location” on the map that could be suitable as a potential place to sleep. To do this I had to climb steeply again. When I got to the top I actually found a meadow with a beautiful view. There I lay down on the grass and ate dinner.

Later I set up the tent and enjoyed the sunset, with the mountains beautifully illuminated by the setting sun. Afterwards I went into my tent, lay down in my sleeping bag and soon fell asleep.

Day 100 – Grado to Salas (22,6 km) – Sunday 08.10.2023

Today I got up at 7:30 a.m. and took down my tent in the dark. So while I was packing up my things, the first pilgrims with headlamps were already walking past me. Once I had packed up my tent, I set off.

It went straight uphill and as I completed the first climb, the sun slowly rose behind me. A few other pilgrims walked up the mountain with me and kept taking pictures of the rising sun.

When I passed a house with a small wall, I sat on it, made myself a coffee and watched the sunrise. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to enjoy your morning coffee no longer in a room, but finally outside in nature again. I sat there for a while and just enjoyed my hot drink and the sunrise with the beautiful landscape.

The path then went up again briefly before continuing down the other side of the mountain into the valley for a long time.

I passed by a small town with an old monastery complex. There I got another stamp for my pilgrim passport and looked at the church.

Another climb immediately followed. I made good progress in the beautiful landscape. In order not to overload my body, I took a longer lunch break at half past 1, during which I took a nap between a few trees off the path.

Then we continued through the green landscape. I actually wanted to sleep in my tent again tonight. After a short research, I changed my plans. Since my destination was almost surrounded by steep slopes with a lot of forest, finding a place to sleep there would have been difficult. So I booked a place for today in a pilgrim accommodation at the exit of the town.

There was a festival going on in my destination, Salas, and the whole town was beautifully decorated and full of people.

I walked through the crowd to my accommodation. There I washed my clothes again and charged my batteries. In the evening I went to the attached restaurant and ate a pilgrim menu. I celebrated my 100th day on tour with a glass of white wine, which was included in the menu. Afterwards I went back to the accommodation, read a book for a bit and then went to sleep early in the dormitory, which wasn’t fully booked.

Day 101 – Salas to Tineo (20,6 km) – Monday 09.10.2023

Unfortunately, the night in the dorm wasn’t very good as it was just too warm. So I got up not very rested and went to breakfast at 8 a.m. While I was eating my food, the other pilgrims were already leaving the accommodation and walking in the dark.

At the beginning of the day things went straight uphill again. I ran the first 5 kilometers through the forest up the mountain. The route wasn’t particularly steep, but the length of the climb meant it was still strenuous. Further up the forest thinned out more and more and at the end I came out on a small plateau. Since I only had a short tour planned for today, I used the first bench on the plain to take a short break.

The path then took me along small paths that repeatedly went through small towns and cow pastures. As I walked along a slope, I could marvel at the beautiful landscape to my left. There were always short ups and downs here, but the climbs were all rather small and therefore easy to walk. Thanks to the many trees that lined the path, I was able to walk comfortably through the area despite the rising temperatures. Today I kept meeting pilgrims who, thanks to my leisurely pace, were traveling as quickly as I was.

As time went on, I slowly became exhausted from the hike. If I had combined today’s and tomorrow’s stages before I became ill, 36 km would have been too much for me today and I decided to look for accommodation. Since I didn’t feel like camping in a mass camp after the last bad night in the pilgrims’ accommodation and my tent would be used for the next few days, I booked a room in a hotel and headed there.