27/4 Wednesday San Esteban to La Isla 12km Last night I ate with Philipe and Bettina. Philipe was good company. They are both cycling the Camino. Both from Austria but they only met at Irun. Philipe must’ve been quite an athlete. He competed in the modern pentathlon in the Montréal Olympics! Jolie was a wonderful hostess. She was always cheerful and keen to refill our glasses, first with cidra and then with an almond liqueur. Needless to say I think we all s...

26/4 Tuesday Nueva to San Esteban de Leces 17km + coastal detour 21km Last night was a disappointment as both the restaurants in the village were closed. Even the bar was not doing the advertised hamburguesas and tapas. I did get a cold tortilla sandwich and a nice fruit tart from the cake shop. Such is life. After a good night's sleep and a quick coffee and croissant I left the village following a railway line towards the coast. This morning the paths wiggled ...

25/4 Monday Llanes to Nueva 18km I left the Albergue after a good breakfast with Franco still pondering his feet. I found a supermarket and bought bread, tomatoes and fresh fruit. Leaving Llanes I watched an old guy playing Greensleeves with what looks like a violin between his knees. Immediately beyond Llanes I find a country lane and beautiful mountain scenery to the left, cows and cow bells to the right. First village along the way was Poo, I didn’t fee...

24/4 Sunday Colombres to Llanes 25.5kmLast night I met Franco from Turin and we agreed to go out to the nearby Mexican for a light meal. The food was delicious and we got on well. A sunny start to the day was very welcome after yesterday's rain. Pilgrims leaving at 6am not so welcome. No breakfast provided so I headed off and walked to La Franca, about 3km, to a truckers' cafe. Franco caught up here so we had breakfast and agreed to walk together for a while. O...

23/4 Saturday San Vicente to Colombres 17km A good night’s sleep followed by breakfast of orange juice, tostada con tomato set me up for the day ahead. Unfortunately the forecast was for heavy rain and strong winds. For once I hoped the BBC gets it wrong. By lunch time it had rained continuously but without too much wind. However, I was feeling cold so was tempted into the bar at Muñorrodero (after 10km) to see if I could just buy some warm soup. Typically ...