My Camino Day August 24 2022 – Muros de Nalón
My Camino Day August 24 2022 was a day off from hiking, a day and extra night at Casa Carmina Albergue and Hostel in Muros de Nalón. It’s a nice place with options for camping as well as upgraded accommodations if one wishes privacy rather than the albergue bunkroom I occupied with a few other peregrinos. That’s my blue backpack next to the bunk I occupied.
The main reason for the day off was an unwillingness to attack a difficult etapa (four steep up and down cycles with elevation changes of 50 to 100 meters) with paved but uncertain footing and rain. From my journal, “That decision was based on a forecast of thunderstorms all day combined with needing a day off. Now I’m feeling good and the storms have moved to this afternoon through tomorrow morning.
“Nuts!”
It’s certainly true that I was tired as the fatigue from a long time on the Camino was setting in, so despite my yearning to be back on the Way as the weather improved, it was better overall that the day was devoted to rest.
It was also a good day because I spent the day in several productive ways.
Planning
Most importantly, I spent a couple hours planning my last few days on el Camino. It was a good thing that I did.
In 2018 and 2021, I had the advantage of a wonderful light rail system that runs along the Bay of Basque coast. That rail system included stations that were very nicely located for a pilgrim, me, to get to a city, such as Donostia-San Sebastian in 2018, that had an excellent rail connection to Madrid. There were plenty of tickets available for the trains I wanted both years and I expected to have a similar experience getting to Madrid for a brief visit with our dear friends Julian and Mercedes before my September 1st flight home in 2022.
It was not to be. The local train stations were less convenient for my route and timing and the nearby cities do not have connections to Madrid, so I ended up planning to go to Oviedo as the best choice for Renfe connections. My hopes for a few days with Julian and Mercedes were foiled by Renfe tickets, or no Renfe tickets to be more accurate, for my preferred date of Monday the the 29th. That would have allowed four more days of hiking or Sunday the 28th, which would have let me hike for three more days. To my relief, there were seats available for a train that got me to the Chamartin station at 7:38 PM on Tuesday, the 30th.
That plan left me figuring out how to get to Oviedo with plenty of time for a connection in a town I was not very familiar with. Local trains were, as I had been warned, not a particularly attractive option so I ended up planning to take the Alsa express bus from Cadavedo to Oviedo on the 28th, spend a day in Oviedo to get oriented, and catch the train on the 30th. Yes, it was a day that would not be spent on the Way, but I did not want to miss at least a little time with Julian and Mercedes.
In the end, the plan turned out to be a very good one.
Being a tourist in Muros de Nalón
The central part of Muros de Nalón is at the top of a small, but somewhat steep, hill. It looked very interesting from the albergue with the hilltop slightly shrouded in mist and Iglesia de Santa Maria clearly visible so I decided to visit. I was glad that I did.
Walking to the top of the hill was not particularly difficult, although I obediently used the walkway over the highway rather than cross it at grade, found yellow arrows confirming that I was already sampling the Path I would follow the next day, and found myself being very careful on the damp pavement while going up the steepest parts of the hill. This took me past Iglesia de Santa María and into the tiny oldtown section. It’s picturesque but only occupies the area immediately surrounding what I’m assuming is the old Plaza Mayor. Sadly, I was not taking pictures and am left with the Google picture of the Plaza on the left.
There were also some useful things as I was able to get some cash at an ATM and buy some food for the next day’s hike at a small shop next to the small park in the distance in the photo. The shop’s name? El Parque, of course.
Watching fellow guests
While I was working on my plan in the Casa Carmina dining area, I was also able to watch two young (compared to me) fellows spend at least a couple hours putting carts together before loading them with some of their gear and departing. They were methodical, careful, and worked together as a team. They appeared to have slightly different models of the same cart concept as there were some minor differences between the two. Each of them seemed well equipped with just the tools needed, but there did appear to be some sharing.
Sadly, I was not able to “chat them up” as my Irish friend Mar liked to say. My impression was that the language they spoke was German and that they were limited to that.
The carts themselves were very interesting. They appeared to be a sort of reversed “travois” configuration with two handles and only a single wheel. They were clearly designed specifically to be towed by a hiker as shown in the picture to the left. My guess was that about two-thirds of the load on the reverse travois in the picture is carried by the wheel.
The cart design seemed to be an ultralight system of aluminum tubes. The hiker uses the handles at the “front” of the cart to lift and control it while hiking. The carts also had two small eye bolts near the handles to allow a small cord to attach the cart to the user’s backpack rigging.
I am disappointed that a reasonably thorough Google search has not produced any information about the carts as they were quite interesting to a “highly experienced” engineer. The narrow wheel and the load applied to it would be problematic on those parts of the Camino where the Way is uneven or soft, conditions that are more normal than not. Bicyclists use mountain bikes with robust wheels as a result.
The carts also look like they would be hard to tow on steep uphill sections, again a very common situation.
My guess is that these two fellows must be traveling on more reliable surfaces than the Camino provides. That led to my assumption that they are hikers rather than pilgrims following the “official path” to Santiago.
Dinner
My day concluded with an excellent dinner at Restaurante Casa Zoilo El Parador. From there is was back to the albergue and a good night’s sleep before departing for Soto de Luiña in the morning.
