Wandering Loose on the Camino Primitivo

I’ve done several Camino’s in Spain, but not the northern routes (Del Norte and Primitivo). A trail friend tempted me to walk Primitivo beginning October 1st.

It is typical of other routes in Spain in many ways; you will meet people from all over the world. Most pilgrims seemed to be from the Netherlands and spoke English. I detected no one with spiritual or religious intentions; hiking in nature was the top objective.

There were a lot of pilgrims, although it never felt crowded. Many albergues were full and it seemed necessary to call or book ahead for beds, although only one day ahead. This was particularly true as you neared the Hospitales Route split in the trail.

This ancient trail is wild and wooly and would be a challenge (or risky) in bad weather. It’s 21 km without any villages or services, up and over tall round grassy mountain tops.

Then after all the steep up’s all morning there is a terrible steep down in a ravine. It is one step at a time. When we reached the Albergue at Berducedo were both exhausted. Normally, it was just me who was exhausted, but Rachel took to her bed for a few hours of recovery.

The trail was generally good and took you through tiny villages and farms and herds of cows. The yellow arrows and monuments were everywhere. There was a second huge down the day after Hospitales but it turned out to be a gravel road, not steep or difficult footing, down to a reservoir.

We interacted more with locals on this trip, as there is a local economy outside of the Camino. People were all friendly and helpful and many greeted us in the villages.

We had some excellent pilgrim meals, which are of necessity sparse: salad with garlic soup, garbanzo bean soup, and always bread. Lunch was bread, cheese, and “ham”. Albergues are high energy places, full of enthusiastic people from 18 to 78 speaking languages from the world. Sleeping in bunk beds in mixed dorms.

We ate at restaurants too: my last night we had an outstanding meal of padron peppers, pulpo, and caldo Gallego.

I decided to leave the trail at ten days in; I was exhausted, and another week of walking wasn’t appealing. I have the sense this may be my last Camino. My fabulous hiking partner, Rachel, has a partner who would be joining us then, and it seemed like an appropriate time. Then two days before, I caught a cold. Walking on cold meds is possible but you need to have someone lead the way. I am extremely grateful for Rachel’s companionship and leadership on this Camino.

This Camino is more physical in the first half as you go up into the mountains, but eases up. We started in Oviedo on October 1st, and the weather was generally good for walking.

When I left for Spain on the first of May, 2017, I had no idea how much my life was about to change. I’ve been blessed with amazing friends and I’ve survived the adventures, too. I’ve walked Camino’s in Spain, France (80 days total), Portugal, 35 days total. I’ve walked into Santiago four times.

I’ve also walked the St FrancisWay -Florence-Assisi-Rome (28 days), Italy Coast 2 Coast (18 days), England Coast to Coast Path (16 days), West Highland Way (8 days), Triskelion Pilgrimage on the Isle of Man (4 days,twice!), the Robert Louis Stevenson Way in southern France, (15 days); 10 days on the Via Francigena in Italy, 6 on the European Peace Walk, 21 days on the California Mission Trail. How did I pull this off?

I’m writing a collection of walking stories, and my next focus will be getting it done. Many of the stories are from the Camino, but the first is my Marathon at age 12. The title is “Always Pee Before the Village.”

See you down the road.

Robert