28/4 Thursday La Isla to Villaviciosa 21km + coastal detour 26km
On Wednesday evening Franco and I were joined by Paulo from Portugal as well as Sandra, Miriam and Anáis - three best friends from Barcelona who all worked in Zara. The hospitalero was clearly not stopping and had already handed out our breakfast bags containing a coffee pod, a plastic cup and a tiny chocolate croissant wrapped in plastic!

We agreed to eat together so Sandra, Miriam and I headed off to the only shop to see what we could find to supplement Franco's meal for 2. We bought more tomatoes, bread, beer, ice-cream and milk for breakfast.

Paulo and I respectively contributed starters of chorizo and artisan cheeses. Beer was imbibed. Next came Franco's pasta in spicy tomato sauce. I wouldn't have thought Barcelonan cooking was bland but the chilli was clearly a little strong for the girls. Oh well, there was ice-cream to cool them down!

We had to entertain ourselves with conversations in Spanglish and the challenge to sing karaoke in a language other than our own. You will know this wasn't my idea but I managed to murder some Italian pop song with the help of the Rioja.

Paulo had portable speakers so we took turns at choosing the tunes. Walking on Sunshine proved popular amongst the salsa and latin tracks. Given the very different ages and nationalities I think we all enjoyed the evening.

This morning Paulo was off early. I supplemented my breakfast with my muesli stash and Franco and I headed off in the rain for a coastal path that Franco and Paulo had researched.

Our path was good initially but after a couple of km it left the coast and got lost amongst very muddy logging tracks. At first, we muddled along but we were going nowhere fast. I got my app out and we agreed we'd just make as direct a route as possible back to the official Camino at Colugna where we stopped for coffee and supplies. This "scenic" wander had added about 5km to our day. I'm for once not sure it was worth it.

Beyond Colugna we were out in the countryside and caught up with the Spanish girls who had set off after us but had stuck to the regular Camino. We left them eating their early lunch at a bus shelter while we continued on through Priesca to La Vega where we had our lunch under the shelter of the church porch.

Predictably the girls passed us here as they were moving a little faster than we were. The weather was improving so I was down to my t-shirt although Franco kept to a couple of layers. His leg was giving him grief so we slowed down and continued on towards Villaviciosa where we promised ourselves beer!

Paulo messaged us from the Casa Mery restaurant in Villaviciosa suggesting they had a very good version of the local specialty, cachopo. He'd clearly been in touch with the girls too because although Paulo had moved on we met them there too.

They were about to tuck into the menu del día so Franco and I agreed to share a cachopo. This turned out to be an oval plate full of a breaded layered concoction with thin layers of pork, bacon, roasted red peppers and goat's cheese with chips and padrón peppers on the side. There was so much that we couldn't finish it between us!

Villaviciosa marks my Primitivo/Norte decision point as the two routes split here. Franco was sticking with the Norte and planned to catch up with Paulo at an Albergue a few km further on so we said yet another heartfelt goodbye. Given I've decided on the Primitivo we'll probably not meet again, unless we reach Santiago at the same time.

The girls are finishing their Camino week here and plan to get the bus and do some sightseeing tomorrow.

I headed off to the night's Albergue to clean up and then was out again to get cash and replace the knee support and Ibruprofen I'd given away. My knee is a little fragile so I want to be prepared given the Primitivo has some tough ups and downs.

Officially Villaviciosa is 463km from Irún although I've now actually walked over 500km. Only 371km to go to Santiago then the extra 100 too Finisterre. It seems fair to say I'm half way to Finisterre, my intended finishing point now!

This being the jumping off point for the Primitivo it is also where I got Jill to send my replenishment supplies of toiletries and tablets. Unfortunately, they seem to have been stuck in Madrid customs for a week with no sign of onward progress. I'm off to the post office in the morning to try to see what can be done as I can't just hang about here waiting and hoping!