Camino Primitivo-Day 3 La Doriga to Salas
Salas, Asturias. Old medieval town.
The best laid plans often go awry. Once again we were being beat down by the heat wave. We ended stopping in Salas, I think it hit almost 80F on some stretches of today’s walk. I have a thermometer attachment to my pack and it’s never lied to me. Our plans to stop at the monastery in Cornellana didn’t work out, but we walked past it today.
Billy walking toward the Monastery at Cornellana
Monastery at Cornellana
Monastery at Cornellana
Once again we were helped out by a couple working on their house who offered to refill 2 liters of water. There had only been one fountain along this stretch. By the time we reached Salas at noon, I was seriously eyeballing the taxi on the corner and considering it to move forward on our destination.
We stopped for a snack (2 chicken sandwiches and 2 mineral waters for 4 Euros) and I quickly (more like an hour later) recalculated a different plan. From here to Bodenaya, which was our designated next stop, was another 8 Km. And all up a steep hill with no water fountains. We had already walked 13Km in some serious heat. We decided to stay in Salas and proceed to Tineo tomorrow. This will throw off my schedule for the next few days and likely mean no rest day in Lugo. Not a big deal. We’re meeting Steven, Billy’s closest friend (one of our best men at our wedding) in Lugo so as long as we arrive on time there we’re good.
We walked through a lot of pastoral areas today. All of Asturias is agricultural and we got to see a lot of cows and sheep doing what cows and sheep do 🙂
Billy on the path toward Salas
Sheep
We decided to stay in Salas at Albergue de Campas across from the church. We scored a private room (a bunk bed and a single) and the place had a washing machine which made washing clothes go faster. We ate across the street at a little place called Casa Pachon.
I walked into the restaurant and told the guy we wanted to eat. He sat us down and proceeded to bring out a 7 course meal. No menu. He just feeds you and you eat. 10,000 calories later he has the guts to ask if we were satisfied or if we needed more 🙂 The funny thing is that I asked him what we were going to eat and he just kept saying don’t worry there’s more coming! If this was anywhere except Spain I would have lost it. Instead, it just made us laugh. Of course the food was delicious. Total cost for all of that plus 4 mineral waters was 20 Euros. Insanely cheap as usual.
Casa Pachon
Arched wall in Salas
I’m headed to bed early so we can start walking by 6:00 am. Temps are supposed to drop to 50sF and I’m praying they are right! I’m also finding it difficult to post daily since the phone app is buggy and the WiFi access is sketchy. I may have to resort to taking notes and updating the blog after I get home.
How horrid it is to walk in such high temps. However, how fortunate for you to have experienced these acts of kindness.
Thanks for your update. I shall be doing the Camino Primitivo in either May or September 2018. Hopefully, I won’t have to deal with the kind of heat you are experiencing. Weather is such a variable thing, isn’t it? And, so if one is wise…exceptions to plans are often necessary to explore.
Continue on, stay well and safe. Enjoy each breath and the next bend in the road.
Judy
I look forward to reading your information about the Primitivo, as I will be walking in July (yes, I know! It was not my first choice, but a hospitalera position became available and it threw off my original plans). I am now seriously worried about the heat. I had planned shorter stages, hoping that would make it easier. Good luck!
The heat in July is going to make the walk a lot harder. There are almost no fountains or places to refill water the first 7 days so far. The kindness of locals who offered to refill our 3 liter bootlegs saved us from serious heat exhaustion. I wouldn’t walk more than 10-15 km in heat over 70 if you are very accustomed to it. Had I known what to expect I would have made my stages 17 instead of 14.
We had the same experience last September at Casa Pachon. I don’t know how we walked the next day. Beware: when we crossed the Hospitales it was over 100F with bright sun.” No es normal” is what the locals kept telling us. Bring extra water as it is worth the weight. At the end of the Hospitales there was a “pop-up” Mahou bar next to a van, just to the left of the power lines. We still wish today that we stopped there for extra water. We ran out, but a lovely gentleman who was sweeping his walk filled our bottles as we still had almost 5K to go. The bar just past there was closed so we were fortunate. Ultreia!!
We walked the Hospitales yesterday. Weather was perfect for us. 50F, super windy, cold. Ver overcast with drizzle. We carry 3 liters of water everyday regardless. It was a long day but I was grateful for the chilly weather.