Bring on the Pain...

My day starts with a quick breakfast at the hostel bar, where I can't help but try one of the local specialties... a pastry called Corbatas de Unquera, a flaky pastry filled with almond paste and dipped in (white) chocolate...

People were coming in and buying 6 boxes at a time, so I was pretty sure they'd be good!

Guaranteed, this is the best thing about Unquera, which is really an ugly little city (apologies to all Unquerians!)...

A good start to the day... Ibuprofen helps!

It will be a day of good visuals, and the expected route from Unquera to Llanes is under 25kms with mostly flat coastal walking, but the camino has other plans for me today!

An old camino sign (probably 50 or 60 years old!... lol)...

A small altar on a hill...

Beautiful homes in Colombres, which was influenced by repatriated emigrants from Spain to the southern United States...

Love these ironwork gates...

An interesting old brick and plaster house...

The old train station in Colombres, with torn up railroad sections in front...

The view is pretty, but this should have been my first warning sign... I was supposed to be on the coast, not climbing hills...

Did I say hills? The climb went on for almost an hour and a half... Every time I saw a corner and thought, "oh, now we turn towards the coast", it would only be another continued ascent...

At one point I had to fight off hundreds of these miniature hedgehogs with my walking sticks... I was becoming delirious from all the climbing...

The walk back down the hill nearly killed me, and I'm sure will be the source of further problems that are about to transpire over the next couple of days...

This is called reaping what you sow... and it sucks...

Coming down off the mountain, the trail was closer to 2kms backwards, incredibly steep, completely wrecked my feet, but the view!...

When I finally made my way down the hill to where the humans live, I stopped at a bar for a pick me up Radler, and who do you think I meet? That's right, DJ David! He has enjoyed the coastal route, and I am jealous...

We walk together a short distance, and then spot this beach. He wants to swim a bit, but I know I must soldier on, as my feet won't take any more stop and starting..

Cool rock in the water...

This beach twinned the first beach, just a couple minutes away and separated by an outcropping of rocks...

Stunning scenery...

Around this point, my feet are starting to scream at me, and I know there is something wrong, but the vistas are beautiful and I am miles away from anything..

I'm told nobody is tired of cow photos yet...

... and everybody loves horses...

Around this time, as I pause in a shaded area, I am passed by a pilgrim whom I later catch up to, and Peter from Poland and I struggle to complete the day into Llanes...

View of the ocean from the Bufones de Pria, a natural wonder where the erosion of the limestone allows the seawater to climb up through blowholes, creating spectacular sounds, as well as geysers of water, especially when the seas are rough...today everyrhibg is calm, so not much too see...

Having already done the whole mountain thing, Peter and I proceeded to miss several key turnoffs, adding kms to our walk for the day...

Another hidden beach along the way...

When we finally make it to Llanes, we head to the hostel located in an old train ststion, where we are greeted by a number of pilgrims I have met along the way. Here we raise a toast for a German girl who's birthday it is... My 23km day has magically turned into 35kms, and Peter, who is on his first day, has walked from Santander, and clocks in at 45kms... DJ David shows up about half an hour later, and we decideto go for dinner...

After hobbling around town, we finally decide on a restaurant that has a menu of the day for 17 euros. We order an extra starter of calamari rings, and then we each get a choice of a first dish, second dish, and dessert. I choose an Asturian specialty, Fabada, or white beans with chorizo, blood sausage and pork shoulder, while my compatriots choose paella and noodles with seafood, as our first dish.... It is simply delicious...

Second course is grilled salmon with frrench fried potatoes...

Dessert is another flan with whipped cream...

It is a nice evening out, and it will be the last time we see Peter, as he intends to walk 40kms a day to complete the portion of the camino he is walking in his allowed time frame... We head back to the hostel for what I hope will be a restful sleep, but it will instead be a night of great discomfort...

Distance walked today- 35kms

TOTAL DISTANCE WALKED SO FAR- 433 KMS