Oviedo to Grado

16.2 miles

5/11/2019

"It's the journey that matters."

- Ursula K. Le Guin

The Camino Primitivo

(The Original Way)

 Oviedo to Santiago De Compostela

SRQ Departure: 5/8/2019
Arrival in Oviedo: 5/9/2019
Begin the Camino Primitivo: 5/11/2019

There are 9 main Camino routes:
The French Way
The Portuguese Way
The Northern Way
The Primitive
The English
The Silver
The Sanabres Way
The Winter Way
The Finisterre-Muxia Way

In order to receive your Compostela (certificate), you must walk at least the last 62 miles or cycle the last 124 miles into Santiago. (The Primitivo route does NOT lend itself to cycling due to the terrain; therefore walking is the only option). 

You must also collect 2 Camino passport stamps/day to verify that you actually traveled your designated route. 

You must present yourself in person in the pilgrim office in order to collect your certificate.

 Since my route begins at the main entrance of the Cathedral,

 it was only fitting that it would be my first stamp.

Placed into the bricks just outside the Cathedral, 

my first route marker for the road ahead...

... with Alphonse II, the Chaste, as my companion 24/7, 
but he was traveling by horseback.

I actually met my first Camino travellers the day before when I was taking some photos in the Oviedo Cathedral Square.  They were a young Russian couple busily photographing each other with the Regent sculpture.  I asked them if they would like me to take a photo of the two of them and they responded very positively.

My pledge not to get lost went quickly by the wayside in less than a mile, when I turned the wrong way on Calle de la Urbia (the first of many directional challenges to leaving the city for the countryside).  I know it wasn't just me because I met a French woman and a Spanish man who were struggling as well.  Once we started finding the yellow arrows and the shell, we finally made it to Parque Camino - a 16.2 mile journey to Grado.

Another Materna Statue
near the roundabout by Parque Camino

And the journey begins...

From the starting signage I could see Monte Naranco (recognized previously from my trip in Oct. 2015).

It was an absolutely beautiful day for hiking and it didn't take long before the route started to climb to heights that provided amazing views of the panoramic countryside farmhouses, crops, animals, lush forests and mountainsides. You could hear an array of bird calls, cows mooing, sheep bleating and horses neighing.  And there was the intermittent clanging of the cowbell around the lead animal's neck.

And there were the churches...

Santa Maria De LLoriana

Capilla de Fatima

I was definitely dragging by mile 14 and couldn't wait to get to our Grado accommodation, the Palacio Fernandez-Heres Rodiles. I felt like a kid asking parents, "Are we there yet?" When I finally did arrive after about 9 hours of hiking, I was so glad to be welcomed by Marta into her bed & breakfast - with a delicious, simple rural Spain salad of white beans, ham, peppers, lettuce, onion, olive oil and garlic. I would have been satisfied with that and the homemade bread, but there was a potato pie and dessert if I wanted it. I just opted for some hot green tea that Marta encouraged me to take back to my room while I lounged in my wonderful jacuzzi and worked on my stiff joints.

I did realize during dinner that Marta's other 4 guests - all from England and also traveling with Camino Ways - were among the pilgrims I chatted briefly with along the route. Hetty and Johnny were siblings, Matthew was Hetty's husband and Marcella (actually Italian by birth) was Johnny's wife. They were delightful and intrepid hikers who had completed multiple Caminos. Johnny (who worked for the BBC) and Hetty (who was working on retirement and lived 4 years in Charlottesville, Virginia with husband Matthew) were so knowledgeable about America and delighted in peppering me with questions. They will be traveling the same route as me as far as Lugo. They "adopted" me into their breakfast and dinner groups so graciously since I was traveling solo.