Camino del Norte Day 29: Avilés to El Pitu

Dave and I both slept great last night for some reason. Though there were a few snorers and some late-night talkers, something about the mattresses and the cool breeze outside was conducive to sleep. We got up fairly early and went in to the old city to explore the historic buildings of Avilés more. We were also happy to find a cafe open early offering breakfast. The weather was grey and cloudy so we couldn’t get very good pictures of the historic monuments or the beautiful 8,000m2 park in the center of Avilés. The churches were interesting to see, but unfortunately none of the are open so we couldn’t visit inside.

Leaving Avilés was much more pleasant than the industrial entrance. We were feeling rather blah in the cool cloudy weather, but the sun came out before long and we had quite a pretty day. There seem to be more dirt paths here in Asturias than in Cantabria. We didn’t have very much food with us, so we hoped to find a shop, but of course we came past the shops only during the siesta hour as usual so we made do on cookies, granola bars and chocolate.

The last section of our day was a lovely dirt track through a forest, which was so refreshing after so much road and industrial walking. We arrived to the little hamlet of El Pitu, which has a tiny shop, one cafe, and several hotels. Hotel Aguilar is a charming little place, and we really have a lovely room that looks like something out of a design magazine for rustic country cabins. We took our hot showers, did the obligatory laundry and have been working away. The cafe starts serving dinner at 8pm so we are eagerly awaiting a hot dinner.