4/5 Wednesday La Espina to Tineo 11km
Last night was a lovely communal meal, including fresh pasta and chatting to a guy from Latvia, now living in London.

This morning, as usual, I was last away for my easy stroll to Tineo. Overall there was little height gain along the way - Nepali Flat again. A few speedy pilgrims passed me, all aiming to cover the circa 30km to the start of the mountain section. The sun didn’t break through properly unto noon and the air is noticeably cool up here.

I had an early lunch in the woods and then stopped for coffee at a cafe on the edge of Tineo, where Heike caught up with me. Her trail shoes had arrived at her last night’s Albergue so she was carrying her boots, all morning, to the post office in Tineo. I carried them a little and we made a bet about the weight for postage. I won so she owes me a beer!

Albergue La Plaza has a terrace with a view of the countryside and there is cold beer in the fridge so that was the rest of the afternoon sorted. Then it was time to find a supermarket and buy food for cooking a meal tonight and for tomorrow’s walk. As seems to happen the albergue is slowly getting busier do we have a German guy joining us for dinner.

Chicken, chorizo, onion, tomatoes, butter beans, courgette cooked together and accompanied by fresh bread. Strawberries and cream to follow.