King of the kerb….

Day 15- From Aviles to Soto de Luina.
Asturias

(æˈstʊərɪˌæs)

noun

A region and former kingdom of NW Spain consisting of a coastal plain(means rain) and the Cantabrian Mountains : with loads of bloody hills!

Just to clear things up for the elderly, I’m still doing the Camino de Santiago but when I got to Leon, I decided to extend it to take in the Camino San Salvador and then link to the Camino del Norte now to Santiago.

It was a damp morning start again from the albergue and there were more hills than I really wanted, but hey ho, today I’m heading for the coast. 

When I finally saw the Bay of Biscay I had descended into the small fishing port of Cudillero and also found some sunshine at last!

I settled for an octopus and Sidre lunch in the harbour before ascending with said lunch sloshing around on my way back up. I have to say, after 2 weeks in the saddle, I have thighs like steel. I reckon I could easily grip a slimy octopus and hold it for at least twenty minutes…maybe I should have suggested this at the restaurant and got a free lunch??

All over Asturias I have kept seeing cool little wooden houses raised up on what looked like staddlestones, so I was intrigued to find out more about them.

Hórreos and Paneras: These are iconic, small wooden structures raised on pillars (pegollos), originally designed to store food, keeping it dry and safe from rodents.

Construction: They are built using chestnut or oak wood, often designed to fit together without nails, bolts, or screws, demonstrating advanced traditional carpentry.

Features: They frequently feature wooden balconies and slate hipped roofs (for hórreos) or gable roofs (for paneras).

Repurposing: Many are now being restored and converted into tiny, unique, rustic summer cabins or guest houses.

Anyway, suns out so I need to get to tonight’s albergue, get the laundry done and nip down the local bike wash!

I always used to get ‘Sleeper’ and ‘Echobelly’ mixed up so here is one of them indie guitar bands from the 90’s for today’s blog track.