Author: jpetesd

The campground I stayed in was quite nice. I had a nice lot and electrical hookup just like my neighbors. Probably paid the same too!

The AT markings were much easier to follow than those marking the Camino. I used the navigation app on my phone a few times per day on AT. Here, a few times per hour. 

The Camino is marked by scallop shells and yellow arrows.  Sometimes yellow arrows indicate a turn but take you to an alburque or bar instead of keeping you on Camino. Frustrating. I’ve grown a bit wary of the yellow arrows. 

Other times, like here, not a single marking. Left fork?  Seems to be where road is heading. Right fork?  Feels like right direction. Center?  Path through a park which would make total sense. 

If you picked B, you get a gold star. I picked the path through the park. Fortunately I was able to easily rejoin… this time. 

Most of the walk today was actually on nicely groomed dirt paths. Went by park which had about 50 of these very large, very old, and very gnarled trees. No clue what kind of trees they are. Bernie Wenzig?

Came across a 9-hole municipal golf course. Saw 2 older guys chatting in parking lot. Tried to convey to them that I needed a club, a ball, and a photographer. They got it after about 5 minutes. 

Quite amazing that swing isn’t playing at Pebble Beach this weekend. 

Heard a big noise like recess at an elementary school up ahead. Rounded a corner and scores of kids heading at me. 

God bless teachers. There had to be at least 200 kids and about 15 teachers. A couple of the teachers saw me smiling and laughing and smiled back while rolling their eyes and shaking their head!

Look up and to the right you will see the mob they had to control. Some trying to run, others not wanting to walk, all of them talking. All I can say is it takes a special person to be a teacher. You have all of my respect and appreciation.

The city of Gijon. This is directly across street from my hotel. 

Gijon is a coastal city with wide, sandy beaches. 

There is also a nice pedestrian pathway along the beach. 

This masterpiece is made of wine bottles. Hundreds of them. Very fragile piece of artwork I would think. 

I’ve been about 25 days without a Budweiser now. Stumbled into a place today that actually got a delivery of Bud while I was sitting there. Gotta have me one. 

I’ve had Europeans tell me for years that Bud tastes like “piss”. I now see why they say that. Local beer is higher alcohol content and it’s about 2/3 the price. It was like me trying to drink a light beer in the US. I’d say it tasted like piss but not really sure what piss tastes like. 

Don’t worry, I still can’t wait to get home and have a cold Bud. I haven’t gone totally mad!

The “Hola” smile of the day. 

All I can think of at this statue of Octavio Augusto is “All this marching and fighting and all we have to show for it is Poo”.  I apologize to Poo’ers. I’ll try to stop. 

Happy trails and buen Camino!

P.S.  Happy Fathers Day Eve. Enjoy!

Your today is my tomorrow. Very deep and thought provoking, huh?! Probably should be a country song.

I write this on Th. You will read on Friday. My tomorrow/your today happens to be the 33rd wedding anniversary for Kris and I. Happy anniversary. I even remembered flowers. Love you!

Today was mostly cloudy and about 60 degrees. Good walking weather.

This is the jumping off point for the Camino Primitivo. I’ll be heading straight toward Gijon.

We started out the day walking through the valley. I’ve seen lots of farm animals but there is virtually zero wildlife. Saw 4 small rabbits today and had seen 1 deer while on train from Madrid to Pamplona. Guess that’s what thousands of years of civilization does to the wildlife.

We eventually began heading up out of the valley.

The people here seem to be exceptional gardeners. So many beautiful yards.

The climb up out of the valley went on and on… and on. The most ups and downs since the day I did equivalent of 300 something flights of stairs. Had to stop and catch my breath a few times!

Right at the top…trail magic. Muy perfecto. Even chairs with backs! Guy said he’s up here every day from 9 until 3. Most of the “magic stations” around here have donation boxes. I had a coke and some trail mix. Wanted to give him a couple Euros. Only had a little over one in change and then large bills. Gave him the Euros plus a US $1 bill. He was excited. Had never seen a dollar bill before.

What goes up… must come down. Heading back down to the small village below.

My “Hola” smile of the day. He was out surveying his sheep. He had a bigger smile until I got the camera on him!

I first saw these little buildings set up off the ground a few days ago near the coast. Thought they looked like cool little beach bungalows. Have seen quite a few more today. Think they’re storage bins for their crops. A lot of apple orchards around here. That’s my theory. If I find someone who speaks good English, I’ll confirm. Too complicated a question for my Spanish vocabulary.

After that valley we headed up…again. Going over another range of hills. I am declaring this 3rd most difficult day of hiking yet after 300 flight day and Pyrenees climb on day 1.

My plan was to stop after 14 miles at a campground in Deva. That will leave me a short walk (5 miles) into Gijon tomorrow.

After the second range, I could see the coast again. That’s Gijon in the distance.

The campground at Deva also has an alburque for pilgrims. I chose to stay in my tent. They charged people $7 for a bunk in the alburque and $17 for me to pitch my tent. Whaaat? Feeling a little foolish but I won’t be listening to any snoring.

Happy trails and buen Camino!

I’ve now hiked more than 2,500 miles in my hiking “career”. My goal is to surpass 3,000 miles by the end of this trek. That will happen.

My other goal is to have raised more than $100,000 over those miles for the charities I hike for. Little nervous on that one. As of now, we’re about $5,000 short. If you’ve been procrastinating, now is the time!!

Loved my little tent spot last night. First opportunity to tent where I could hear the surf.

Cloudy and a bit cool starting out this AM!

I’ve got my walking pace pretty dialed in. I go 5 Km’s/hr (3 mph). On the AT it was usually 2.5 mph.

I go pretty fast but I also get temporarily disoriented once in a while. Yesterday I went past the same person 3 times. Missed a couple turns. Sometimes the signage is a bit confusing.

Today was the best I’ve felt physically. Been having a pain in my left shin each morning that usually goes away in an hour. Think it’s shin splint from too much pavement. Today there was very little pavement and no pain.

I’ve decided I won’t be leaving the coast and the Camino del Norte for the mountains and Camino Primitivo.

It has been cool enough for me here along the coast. I’m pretty sure I don’t have appropriate attire for the mountains.

Plus I don’t need to prove to myself that I can hike up and over mountains. Been there…done that. If I feel the need to do that again I’ll just get on Pacific Crest Trail. Nothing like that planned…just to be clear.

Did I remember to mention that I am really enjoying the coastal views?

The last half of the day was up in the hills. It was a nice change of scenery. Reminded me a bit of the AT.

My “Hola” pic of the day. Doesn’t she have the prettiest smile? She thought I was loco for wanting to take her pic.

This next lady offers coffee and drinks to pilgrims as they pass by her house. I had a coke and chatted with her for 15 minutes. She forced me to use Spanish. That was good practice for me. When I was leaving I said “Muchos gracias” in my best Spanish. She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and said “You’re welcome”. We both had a good laugh.

I’ve been on a mission last 2 days to make it to Villaviciosa.

I’ve got a birthday party to get to and I’m excited to meet up with some of my friends.

I made it!  One of the good things about being an old guy out here is that the young ladies feel sorry for you and let you hang out with them.

Meet my posse! Left to right…Jessica, Deniella, me, Sally, Scout, and Naomi. It was Deniella’s birthday. She is from Mexico. The other 4 just graduated from college in Utah. They had been roommates for a couple of years and have a great time together.

Last Friday, June 7, I made a big error.

It’s difficult to post videos to blog and I rarely do a video because it takes up too much memory on my phone.

On that Friday, I posted a video to Instagram and Facebook thinking it was just some stupid bit.

The reviews told a different story:

“I believe the Sangria is flowing in your head with Bob Dylan.”

“Apparently you scored some weed before shooting this video.”

“English. Spanish. Jamaican. I’m digging the accent, mon.”

“What kind of happy pills are you taking, buddy?”

“You are a goober mi amigo.”

I erased it from my phone after posting and feel badly that some of my loyal followers have not been able to see this masterpiece!!

If you are interested, I believe there are 3 options:

1. Try this link. May need FB.

2. Find me on FB (Jeff Peterson…there’s probably only 83,247 of those) and look for video post on June 5.

3. Find me on Instagram (just_pete99). Video has my face predominantly displayed.

If none of those work, my humblest apologies.

Just Pete

It was a really nice, partly cloudy, 65ish kind of day. Good walking weather. 

Got my long board out to shred a few today. 

I think we should all chip in, buy this beach house, and just make it party central.  I’ll be in charge of the Budweiser. You guys figure out who’s in charge of all the rest of the minor details.  Who’s in?

Approaching the town of San Vicente de la Barquera. Appears to be another nice surf town. I’d only been walking for a couple hours but thinking about stopping here for the day. 

Went by a bunch of surf shops and surfers just before town. I was liking it. 

This guy must be extremely patient. I can’t imagine how long it takes to rake together one of those big bales!

One of my “things” is I smile and say “Hola” to everyone. Construction workers, joggers, farmers, everyone I pass. I get extra special enjoyment when it’s an elderly person who is alone.  I’ve gotten some unforgettable smiles in return.  You can do this at home yourself. Sometimes these people are alone and sad. Your hello may make their day. It’s easy and you’ve nothing to lose. Give it a shot.

I offered $1000 for this old school cigarette machine. Fortunately they said no because I really didn’t think about how I would carry it. 

Happy trails and buen Camino!

My feet and knees were sore enough last night that I got up about 1AM and soaked in a hot bathtub for 20 minutes. Felt a bit better after that. 

They weren’t lying about the wind warning. Blew pretty hard all day. Guessing sustained winds near 30 mph and gusts to 40. 

Remember yesterday when I saw what I hoped were clouds up in the mountains. Well, they’re not clouds. 

Llamas…or are they alpacas…or is it the same thing?

Heading back to the coast. This wind is howling. Going into the wind, my hat tries to blow off but string holds it on…and darn near chokes me. 

In most of the towns, the Camino goes by or near a church. This is in Cóbreces. One of the standouts from my perspective. 

Kris, I say we get something like this to tow around the country!  Looks like something the Clampett’s should have had.  Jay Reidenbach, think we can just park it in Plantation?

The sea is very angry today. 

That really is snow and it keeps getting closer!  Been walking towards it for 2 days. 

That is Comillas in distance. It is an older beach town (cobblestone streets).

Antoni Gaudi is my favorite architect. Well, right after Bernie and Renae Wenzig.  These pics are from El Capricho, one of his first works of importance (1883-1885). 

I have no clue what the name of this river is but it was a major pain in my butt today. See those houses across the river?  I would walk on the other side of them 2 hours (and 6 miles) later. Frustrating!

When you walk by yourself for 8 straight hours with no music, podcast, etc., you have lots of conversations with yourself and sometimes animals. I really tried to encourage these sheep to take a short break from eating and enjoy the view. They did not respond which I guess is fortunate.

Got just little teaser views of ocean this afternoon. 

Every once in a while the towns and the setting are so scenic it almost looks fake. 

26 miles is a loong way. I don’t care what the terrain is like. After 20 miles my legs are pretty dead, my mind is pretty shot, and I’m pretty much staggering down the Camino. A bit scary when you’re walking down a road. 

After 8 hours of walking, I finally made it to Santillana del Mar. It’s billed as one of the most beautiful villages in Spain. Many movies are filmed here and it is filled with tourists.