Not a great day for walking. Not only was it a below average stage, 30kms, next to no coast, lots of farmland and lots of road, if you add, that it rained for most of the last 20kms, and I couldn’t find my headphones, it was far from a great day. It was also the day so far I have taken least photo’s.
The weather forecast was rain in the afternoon, so I left the hotel at 7.30, just in time to see the sun rise and hoping to have a few kilometers on the road before the rain started. After a typical Spanish breakfast of coffee, juice and toast, at the local bar, the nine kilometers to Navia passed quickly.
I crossed the Navia River as the clouds came together and just as I met a Dutch couple, the rain started. My rain poncho was on and off for the next few kilometers. Of course the rain stopped for the entire time that I sat and enjoyed a coffee, cola and ham sandwich, only to start again as soon as I was on my way again.
There was quite some road walking so just before the bar, I reached into my pocket to find my headphones. They weren’t there. At the bar I checked my bag, but nothing. I was sure I checked my room as I left, so I was super annoyed.
By 12 o’clock I’d walked 20km to A Carida, and with 10km left to walk, it started to pour down. Luckily I was in a town, and quickly found a dry spot to put on my rain trousers and other shoes. The rain got even heavier, so twice I sat in a bus shelter and watched the rain. Whilst I was sitting in the shelter, a bus stopped. I could see from the schedule, that it stopped in Villapedre (where I slept last night), and also stopped in Tapia de Casariego, my destination tonight. So I wrote to the hotel in Villapedre and asked if they’d found my headphones, as I could then collect them.
The rain finally got lighter as I approached the fishing port of Tapia de Casariego. The Camino del Norte doesn’t actually pass Tapia, it is an alternative route along the coast. Just before the town, I met the third walker of the day, a German. We chatted, but worried about the rain I moved on. I arrived at the hotel at 2.30pm and could check-in. I took a quick shower, and as I was hanging up my damp shorts, I found my headphones, in the leg pocket of my trousers – I’d forgotten about the leg pocket. A days unnecessary frustration about losing them could have been saved if only I’d checked all my pockets.
I wanted to find a place to eat, but it was raining again. The hotel had a restaurant so I took the menu – bean soup (again), cod and rice pudding. The first day I haven’t been served chips.
It continued to rain until 6 o’clock, where I had the chance to walk around the town, pretty much totally closed down, except for the odd bar and a couple of shops – it’s probably packed during the summer, there were at least 30 bars and restaurants that weren’t open.
It started to rain again, so I went back to the hotel and watched “Real Madrid TV”. They aren’t allowed to send the matches, but they cover everything before and after, including following the team coach, the pitch inspection and tens of interviews. During the match, they usually have a camera pointing at their trainer, Carlo Ancelotti whilst he walks up and down his technical box or sitting down. Luckily I could stream the match.