393 kilometers more to walk to Santiago de Compestella
We left Ribadesella by way of the Santa Marina Beach promenade . We knew we were going to leave early and no stores or cafes would be open until 9:00 am, especially on a Sunday, so we bought yogurt the night before and left them just outside the window to stay cold. There are no screens in most windows in Spain and the window ledges are a great place to keep food cold overnight if we don’t have access to a refrigerator. So far we have had no problem with bugs or insects flying in. We also bought a loaf of bread, cheese and ham for lunch as well as a couple bottles of iced tea for the morning to drink on the way in case we didn’t find an open cafe with coffee for a while. We were in luck, however as a cafe was getting their pastry delivery and even though they were not officially open he was able to make us a cafe con leche “take away” and we were able to sip on our coffee while walking on the promenade. .
We walked for a couple hours thru forest and pastures, and saw dozens of horreos, which are little buildings on stilts designed to store grain and vegetables to protect them from rodents and moisture. They are very common in this part of Spain. Soon we could see the ocean in the distance and the cute town of Vega de Ribadesella.
As we started walking toward the ocean we saw a sign in front of an old stone building with beautiful roses that read, “ welcome peregrinos (pilgrims). Coffee and breakfast available. Donativo.” We were ready for another coffee and went inside. There we found a young couple – Madeline from France and Alfonso from Italy. They had a thermos of coffee and milk and a couple of cakes. The building used to be an alburgue but was currently closed. Madeline was the caretaker and was offering refreshments for pilgrims as a way to earn money to fix up the building. Apparently Alfonso was in Spain for work and he met Madeline and decided to stay for a while ❤️. They said they served a lot of pilgrims the day before but not too many that day. We left energized by our unexpected cup of coffee. As we left a group of pilgrims stopped to read the sign uncertain if they should stop. I encouraged them to stop and they did. Alfonso thanked me for the advertising.
We made it to our alburgue by 2:00 pm. We only walked 15 k today. The alburgue was spotless and run by a woman our age who has walked several Casinos and does not speak a word of English. Once again Google translate came in handy. She ran a tight ship but was very nice. She washed the clothes we wore that day and we had a delicious supper of unlimited homemade lentil soup, rice, salad wine and dessert. It was all donativo. We were there with 3 young people from Czech Republic and they appreciated the unlimited soup. There were also two Italians, Silvio and Eugenio who appreciated the wine. We had a great conversation at supper – mostly about US politics of course. The bunks were very comfortable with room between each. The albergue was not full which was also nice as it is still early in the season and it was a kilometer off the Camino up a big hill (I didn’t realize that when I booked it) but it was a great place to stay.