Camino Primitivo Day 1

Oviedo to Grado

Sept 4  2023

To date was the first day of what is billed as the hardest of all the Caminos.  Hardest because of all the elevation gain during the Camino not because of the length as it is approximately 350 kms.   I know there is a quote about choosing to do not because it is easy  but because it is hard.  I was a little uptight about the walk because I was the only one who did not bring hiking poles and everyone had beenout  bragging about how much training they had done and while I know there is a tendency to over state how much training they have done, my training was limited to about 6 kms.  We had been aiming to get away by 8:00 am but it was closer to 8:45 before the shoes hit the pavement.

The sky was laden with really heavy dark clouds and it felt like rain was imminent.  The forecast bore this out as they were calling for 90% chance of rain.  At about 5 kms an hour pace you just arenèt going to out run the rain.  It was also really humid so even though it was only about 15 C I was sweating heavily. 

The route out of Oviedo was quite complicated but after about 5 kms we were in the country side and navigation got alot easier.  There were a lot of ups and downs and it seemed like all the ups and downs were on dirt or very broken trails.  This is where the poles would have come in handy.  At about 10:30 we came to a little cafe where we stopped for coffee. Inside was the largest dog I have ever seen.  He must have been over 200 pounds.  

The scenery was gorgeous and it did seem like a long time but we did make it into Grado .  In Grado we were transported 8 kms out into the country side to a B&B. It is a marvelous place. An idillic quiet country retread.  There we were feed a marvelous supper of  salad, potato omlet and melon for desert.   

While there are lots of stories I am going to say that I didn't need poles and my training was fine.  

Terry