Tuesday Oct 25. Cadavedo to Luarca. 4hrs 45mins. 15km. After which we took a taxi to Villapedres for the night.
The weather forecast indicated 40-70% chance of rain in the early afternoon in the region of Villapedres. The skies were overcast, and we left Casa Rural Roja at about 8.20am in the morning. It was dark as the sunrise was later, at 8.55am. I used personal beacons (light emitting devices) as we walked out of Cadavedo on the road. Though there were side diversions now and then, through parallel residential streets.
It was a pleasant walk. Generally, most were still asleep and thus, there was not much activity nor noise (other than a factory that was already in operation!). We were walking along a residential road in Caneiru when we spotted a line of cows in the distance walking up ahead of us. They were being led to a pasture. Seems it was a 3 person operation – someone in front guiding the lead cows, an elderly man bringing up the rear with a farm tractor, and a woman in a car blocking the road we were on.
About 7.5km into the walk, we arrived at Hostal/Restaurante Canero. This was when the Yellow Arrows differed from the WisePilgirm App. Latter seemed to indicate a more circuitous route, while former seemed to point towards a more direct route. We followed former (Yellow Arrows) and climbed about several hundred feet up a mountain incline. Which exited onto a road. That’s when my map reading skills fell short. The Yellow Arrows pointed downhill the road. I consulted the App and it appeared that we should head uphill the road. Joon wisely stepped in, and checked the App, and ‘zoomed out’ to see how going uphill on the road will eventually looped back. So, we headed downhill on the road and less than 10m, we saw other Yellow Arrows guiding us to climb uphill again. That “clicked” then for me as going downhill all the way on the road would have led us backwards. Only with the two sets of Yellow Arrows did the direction (uphill and westwards) become clearer.
My learning – check in with others, because they may have a better and more accurate perspective.
Re the weather forecast, we felt some drops of rain as we were about 6km from Luarca. We stopped to don our raingear. And/But it didn’t rain. So, after about 10 mins of walking, we took off our raingear.
The descent into Luarca provided some spectacular views of Luarca, a sea port. We took advantage of arriving just before 1pm to check out the menu of the day offerings at various cafeterias before settling on one.
After lunch, some grocery shopping before hopping into a taxi to Villapedre. The wise one advised to have an afternoon with nothing to do. That sounds good.
Mother of the Virgin Mary.
Journey Within 