Camino Primitivo-Day 2 Escamplero to La Doriga

Horreo (Asturian cache to store grains)

Our plan was to stop in Cornellana, but we decided to stop in La Doriga since it had become so hot that we were exhausted and figured with the large group headed to Cornellana, we’d never get beds at the monastery anyway. We are walking slow because of the heat and humidity. At 3:30 pm we were still 3km from Cornellana.

I wish I’d taken a picture of the awesome old lady who came out of her house shouting “agua”! “Necesitan agua?” Do you need water? Yes! We do. She refilled our water supply with 2 liters of water and informed us that the only restaurant in the little town of Peñaflor was closed that day. She’d figured we were counting on getting water there. The Church told villagers 1000 years ago that they had an obligation to care for the pilgrims. The tradition lives on! This would not be the first time that locals gave us water, either. The bridge below was about a 5  minute walk past her house.

Puente de Peñaflor-12th Century bridge

Puente de Peñaflor-View from the other side

We stayed at the only albergue in the village, Ca Pacita which is owned and operated by Antonio. We had the entire loft to ourselves and the Russian couple and the Lithuanian guy from the night before were already there. They stayed in the little cabin. The loft is nothing more than a bunch of thick mattresses on low platforms. The ceiling is really low and not an ideal place to stay if there were a lot of people. The bathroom in the loft was just a toilet and a sink with a curtain drawn across. Very little privacy but it was perfect for us since it was just the 2 of us. This is not a common place to stop for the night. The shower was downstairs on the level with the private rooms. It was a standard bathroom with shower. Had we planned ahead we could have reserved a private room but they were already taken. I would stay here again but I would reserve the private room with the shared bathroom.

The Lithuanian guy is a physicist so he and Billy got off on some scientific conversation. I went outside to hang our laundry and chat with Antonio. He told me that the village only has 28 residents. 20 are over 70 years old and rest over 50. He says that when they die so will the village. There are villages all over Spain that are deserted. So sad.

By the time Antonio and I finished the laundry (I helped him hang some other pilgrim’s laundry while we chatted) and went back inside to the restaurant area, the Russians were asking for a picture of their new Alaska friends. The man is Viktor but I just could catch his wife’s name. Here we are. I’m a bit sunburned. But check out my hiking skirt. I’m wearing this thing every day from now on. It’s so much cooler than hiking pants.

My new Russian pilgrim friends.

We had a fabulous meal cooked by Antonio and then went to bed to crash. Well, eventually went to bed. We asked him for the check so we could go straight to bed and he scolded us. It’s not good to go to sleep right after eating. So 30 minutes later he allowed us to go to bed 🙂 I love this guy. He was so warm and I loved talking with him. He knew so much about the Spanish immigrants who had left for Cuba back in the 1800s and really made me feel welcomed back to my ancestral home.