Day 17 – Dinosaurs walked this Camino

Ribadesella to Colunga, 21Km

Not surprisingly, the hotel refused to provide any food last night until after I’d gone to bed. They offered me a tiny saucer of salted peanuts with the beer, which I accepted. I didn’t particularly want to eat anything; it was more of a game. Breakfast was included in the rate and this morning there was an abundance of food in the dining hall. More than the few guests could ever contemplate eating.

It was a shame that the hotel included breakfast because I passed a lovely little place along the Camino offering breakfast just for pilgrims, on a donation basis. There were several pilgrims enjoying the feast but I was already full of fruit and rice pudding. A German woman called Christine caught me up and wondered why I wasn’t stopping because it was the best breakfast imaginable (and Germans have a good imagination for breakfast). She was also curious why I set off from the albergue at 9pm the other night. We walked for awhile and she told me about her family holidays walking with their children in the Bavarian mountains and I told her about our family holidays in Disneyland etc.

The beaches around here are famous because several large dinosaur footprints have been discovered and preserved. I didn’t see any but it’s just another sign that the Camino is very old.

I arrived in Colunga at 1pm and as the hotel had a 2pm check in, I waited in a bar and ordered an Asturian cheese board which had five cheeses with Protected Designation Origin.

My hotel is a dream. The entrance is up a slope with little seating areas which have been levelled and draped in vines and all manner of flowers. The building is more of a house, stuffed with antiques and little nick nacks. The owner speaks good English, there is a restaurant with proper cooking and a pilgrim menu. Dinner is at 7pm. Beat that!