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• Sunday 5th October, 2014

After a very restful sleep we all woke up at 7:30am and started to get ready. Berducedo was supposedly the last town to buy food before Grandas de Salime 20km away so last night I bought yoghurt for breakfast and nuts and fruit for lunch from the one store in the town. I took my time getting ready and left the albergue just before 8:30am. It’s a lovely feeling walking now because I know the people I’m passing or who are passing me and we always have a quick chat before continuing.

Rik and Rens from Holland

Dimitri from Greece and Sebastian from Poland

Today’s stage was to include 6km of steep downhill and was supposedly a knee killer, just what I needed! What I hadn’t read was that before the 6km down it was a very steep up again! Up all the way to the top of a hill with wind turbines and then 6km downhill. It was a beautiful forest track with colourful wild flowers and a view of the Grandas dam. Like every other day, I stopped constantly to take photos and thought how lucky I was to be walking this way with perfect weather and incredibly stunning views.

I had planned to stay in Castro, 25km away, but I was worried about the albergue being full by the time I arrived as my guidebook said it only had 16 beds and there are a lot more than 16 people walking. Last night in Berducedo both albergues were full which is about 30 people and the albergue in the next town in La Mesa was also apparently busy. “The camino always provides” is what I kept saying to myself… 

Knee bandages!

When I arrived in Grandas de Salime after only walking 20km, it felt like I had walked a 40km day with the steep ascent and descent. The first thing I came to in the town was the Ethnographic museum and I had heard terrific things about it, so I paid the €1.50 entrance fee, dropped off my bag and went sightseeing. It was a wonderful depiction of the olden days in Asturias with a boot maker, working mill, old school, barber, doctor, grocer, house, horreo etc… Well worth the visit.

The albergue was only a few minutes away so I decided that I would go and see if there was a bed available and if there was, I would stay, rather than walking an extra 5km to Castro. There was a bed available although it was filling up and there were already 24 people when I arrived at 2:45pm. I knew everyone that was there already, my new camino family 🙂

I showered and washed my clothes then headed out to visit the 13th century church of Grandas de Salime. It’s the biggest town I’ve passed in a few days but it’s still tiny! I found one of the only places open on a Sunday night serving dinner and had a hamburger with fries, a typical pilgrim dinner! 

I’ve been incredibly lucky with the weather so far but tomorrow as I cross from Asturias to Galicia the forecast is for rain… It always rains in Galicia!

Grandas de Salime albergue

Grandas de Salime albergue

Day 5, Berducedo to Grandas de Salime

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