Our Walk Along the Camino de San Salvador

Lessons from Pilgrimage to Oviedo "He who goes to Santiago and not to Salvador, visits the servant but not the Lord."   The Camino San Salvador is not a long walk, but it is a powerful one. In just five or six days, the trail climbs out of the cathedral city of León, follows rushing rivers and ancient Roman roads, and winds through emerald forests, misty passes, and the rugged spine of the Cantabrian Mountains before descending into the Basque-tinged beauty of Oviedo. What it lacks in length, it makes up for in intensity - of both terrain and experience.   We found that walking the San Salvador was a short trek full of vivid landscape, deep heritage, and lessons in humility.   A Trail of Solitude and Spirit This is a trail for those who seek quiet.   Most days, we walked alone, save for the company of birdsong, cowbells, and the rhythmic sound of our own footsteps crunching over wet leaves or skimming across open ridgelines. The trail is steep and unrelenting in pla...

Exploring and Birdwatching Oviedo Camino de San Salvador For us, Oviedo marked both an ending and a new beginning. We took a rest day here after finishing the Camino de San Salvador and before beginning the Camino Primitivo . Oviedo is the capital of the Principality of Asturias and the administrative and economic center of the region. Despite its importance to modern Spain, it retains an older, medieval feel, which we very much enjoy.  There are a great many things to do and see in Oviedo, including a large number of historic churches to visit.  However, the point of a rest day is to give the body a bit of a break, and in our case to catch up on blogs, so we mostly limited our exploration to the Cathedral of San Salvador and its immediate surroundings.  Cathedral of San Salvador The Metropolitan Cathedral Basilica of the Holy Saviour, or Cathedral of San Salvador , is a Roman Catholic Church located in the heart of Oviedo.  There is a frequently repeated Spanish say...

Accepting the Way Camino de San Salvador We headed down to breakfast at the bar associated with our hotel just after 6 AM to begin our final day on the Camino de San Salvador.  After reading several accounts of other people's experiences of the last 30 km of this hike, we were heading into it with very mixed feelings.  Although the San Salvador route is short, it is a physically demanding Camino, which I think leaves many pilgrims exhausted, injured, and or at the very least feeling less than at their best by the last day.  The guidebooks suggest the last 30 km is an easy, downhill walk that is mostly on pavement. Writing this at the end of a long, strenuous day I can say this is in no way an accurate description of today's walk, and I can fully appreciate the despair felt by others who were struggling to finish and whose expectations of an easy walk were dashed.  We joined Mick, Jacques, and Fernando for a huge and delicious breakfast of cafè con leche and toastada,...