Rumour, Expectations and Reality : Llanos de Someron to Pola de Lena

After a peaceful and restful night at the albergue we woke up around 6:30, still a bit sore after yesterday's exertions.  We all slowly got ready, biding our time until breakfast at 8 am.  Today was a short (18.1 km) day that the guide suggested should be easy and 'all downhill.'   The hospitalero phrased it a bit differently yesterday, saying only that we had 10 km left in the mountains, and then we would follow the highway. As it turned out, the walk was anything but flat, and at best it could be described as mildly strenuous. 

In any case, when breakfast arrived it consisted of café con leche, freshly squeezed orange juice, warm bread with jam, a slice of delicious nut cake, and a small pile of hazelnuts and walnuts, still in their shells.  A wonderful feast to begin the day!  As a final blessing, the owner of the albergue presented each of us with a yellow papier-mâché arrow pin for our backpacks.  It was a lovely gift, and can be used to recognize other pilgrims who have walked the San Salvador and been lucky enough to stay at this beautiful spot. 

We set off into a cool, foggy morning with low hanging clouds that swallowed the tops of the highest peaks.  It felt like we'd been blessed with the best of both worlds - clear skies and panoramic views yesterday, and the mystery and magic of a landscape shrouded in fog today.  

The first 5 km or so were downhill, on a winding, paved mountain road.  We were escorted to the edge of the town by a very large and amiable sheepdog, who seemed very concerned that one of his flock had escaped onto the road. 

As we made our way down the winding road there seemed to be one beautiful view after another.  Steep slopes covered in a patchwork of lush green fields and pastures surrounded us on all sides, and the air was filled with the sound of birds and cowbells from the horses, cows, and sheep grazing in the lush green landscape all around us. 

The walk down to Puento de los Fierros was easy enough, but I think making the relatively steep descent on the paved road would have been painful on the knees if we'd attempted it at the end of yesterday.  When we got to the town at the bottom, there was a choice to take an extremely steep and very overgrown footpath straight up a steep slope away from the road, or to continue straight on into town.  We wouldn't have known there was a choice, but Mick, Jaques, and Fernando were in front of us, and we watched them continue straight ahead. 

We followed the yellow arrows through town, crossing a bridge over a wide, fast-flowing river whose roar we could hear from quite some distance.  A pedestrian walkway took us over a small river to an interesting fieldstone church with what looked like a wooden bell (?).  There were some information plaques on the Camino, the GR trails in the region, and local history, and a nice bench on which to rest in preparation for ... a climb. 

Behind the church we began a long, very steep climb up into the countryside.  We crossed over top of the train tracks, and began the climb on a concrete path running beside a tall stone wall that was covered in English ivy.  We emerged into a small neighborhood, and continued climbing on a dirt path surrounded by trees.  In several places water was pouring out of nearby pipes, turning the path to a slippery trail of mud. 

Up and up we climbed through a magical and almost tropical feeling forest of trees with a carpet of tender new ferns underneath, their fiddleheads not quite yet fully unfurled.  In other places the old trees were covered in trailing ivy, and underneath a forest of slender plants with white and purple blossoms stood tall. 

Throughout this all we caught glimpses of the lush green valleys and mist shrouded hills stretching out beside us.  Eventually we climbed out of the trees and were walking along a grassy footpath between cow pastures, low stone walls and wooden fences bordering the trail and framing the gorgeous view. 

When we reached the top of the first climb we found Mick and Jaques taking a break, enjoying the panoramic view down the valley.  We too stopped for a snack, and a much needed break.   We all shared a similar sentiment - the strenuous climbing we had just done certainly didn't qualify as 'all downhill.'  As it turned out, that description didn't much apply to the rest of the day either. 

 

 

After our break we began to descend steeply down the same muddy, rocky, slippery track.  The trees in this section were very unusual.  They were ivy covered and had enormous trunks and branches growing straight upwards almost like a raised hand sticking up out of the soil.  Although the going was tough, the moist forest was full of life. Bird song filled the air, the path was lined with a huge diversity of colorful wildflowers, and large slugs and snails made their way along the forest floor.  In several spots mountain streams crossed the trail, a few of them creating picturesque waterfalls.  

The countryside in this section is very lush and beautiful, and we even spotted a small deer grazing out in one of the fields.  Another highlight was passing the small stone Ermita de San Miguel, which was a very peaceful mountain chapel.

Just before noon we reached the tiny mountain village of Beduenos, which was picturesque but offered no amenities of any sort.  Apparently there is a very highly recommended albergue near this village, and pilgrims can arrange to be picked up in the town.  A long trek on a concrete pathway and then a dirt track took us up to the mountain village of Herias.  

After this point we began a long and steep descent on a forested footpath into the larger town of Campones.  We followed the sidewalk along the main street beside the river, and picked a bar in which to stop for a café con leche.  It was a welcome break on a what felt like a strenuous morning. 

When we went to leave Campones we again had two choices - one was to follow the bike path up into the hills, and the other was to follow the road down in the valley (or so we thought).  We followed the arrows through town, getting as far as the interesting little Capilla del Santo Cristo.  At this point a well-meaning and very emphatic local woman pointed us in the direction of the bike path, saying repeatedly in Spanish that the road was too dangerous and we needed to go the other way.  We hesitated, but she made sure we changed course and followed the approved route. 

We crossed the main road, walked over the river on a small bridge, and then followed a paved bike path out of town along the river.  One of the advantages of this route was that it took us to the Church of Santa Christina de Lena, which is a world UNESCO site. The disadvantage was that the UNESCO site was at the top of a very long, very steep climb on a Roman road that closely resembled a stairway meant for giants, with very large, uneven steps. 

The Santa Cristina de Lena is a Roman Catholic Asturian pre-Romanesque church built in the 9th century located on a Roman road that linked Asturias with the plateau.  The church has a different floor-plan to other typical pre-Romanesque basilicas.  It is a singular rectangular space with a barrel vault, a presbytery that is elevated above floor level in the central nave, and is separated from the area occupied by the congregation by three marble columns.  Several parts of this unique structure were comprised of materials re-used from Visigoth origins in the 7th century. 

Unfortunately, we arrived at the church a mere 5 minutes after it closed at 1 pm, so we were only able to look at it from the outside.  There were several people enjoying picnics out on the grassy lawn in front of the church, and a young family out for an afternoon romp. 

Slightly disappointed, we began the steep, slippery descent from the beautiful old church.  The views of the lush green hills and mountains on the way down were phenomenal, although we could still see and hear the busy highway below us as well. We descended on the Roman road, passing between mossy green stone walls covered with ferns and shaded by trees.  

Eventually we climbed down to the river, passing a railway station along the way.  We crossed the river on a pedestrian bridge with elegant orange metal arches, and continued down the waterway, passing old stone homes along the way.  We walked parallel to the highway for a while before coming to a large roundabout on the edge of Pola de Lena. 

Pola de Lena is a larger city, and unlike many of the towns on the Caminos we've walked, the streets were mostly lined with six story tall buildings.  We made our way to the central square, which was lined with trees, and suddenly we saw Mike waiting on a street corner. He had joked earlier that he'd be the one at the bar when we arrived, waiting to direct us in to the accommodations Fernando had booked for us somewhere in the town.  We didn't expect to actually find him waiting on street corner, but it was a lovely welcome, and we made our way to the hotel together. This turned out to be fortunate for us, because we had to get the keys from a nearby bar, and it wasn't immediately clear where we needed to go.  Thankfully, with Mick's ability to speak Spanish it was soon sorted out. 

After doing our chores we headed out in search of food, thinking that perhaps we might somewhere that served the famous Asturian cider that must be poured from above ones head in order to properly aerate it.  We soon discovered that today was yet another holiday in Spain - Labour Day.   As it was both a holiday and siesta, we found nothing to be open, and returned to our room empty-handed. 

We ventured back out again after 8 pm and found a bar open that served vegetarian pizza.  When the food arrived it was truly enormous but extremely watery and only partially defrosted. Definitely not one of the culinary highlights of the trip, but then again, only a tourist or a peregrino would be foolish enough to order something like pizza when in Spain.  Anyway, while it wasn't an inspiring end to the day, we did manage to find food on a holiday, and what more can you really ask for?

Distance: 19 km
Accommodations: Hotel La Payareta