Our Walk Along the Camino de San Salvador

“Eye and foot acquire in rough walking a coordination that makes one distinctly aware of where the next step will fall, even when watching land and sky.” Nan Shepherd, The Living Mountain   Between Earth and Sky in the Cantabrian Mountains   By the time we turned north from León onto the Camino de San Salvador in the spring of 2022, walking and observing nature had become inseparable parts of the way we travelled. Having hiked trails across France, Spain, Portugal and Canada, we had come to focus less on the distances of the stage or the need to complete a section as quickly as possible.   Instead, we increasingly allowed what we encountered along the way to shape the pace of our days. Birds could draw us to a stop beside a hedgerow, an unfamiliar call might keep us searching the branches above, and streams, wetlands, flowers, insects or changes in vegetation could become as memorable as the villages and landmarks through which we passed. Over time, paying attention to...

Lessons and Advice from the Pilgrimage from Leon 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.   Solitude and Spirit This is a trail for those who seek quiet and time in nature.  Most days, we walked alone, save for the company of birdsong, cowbells, and the sound of our own footsteps crunching over wet leaves or skimming across open ridgelines. The trail is steep...

A Day in Oviedo Spain, After the  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 Spanis...