Day 12 el Primitivo Oviedo to ‎⁨Las Regueras⁩

15 September 2023 Day 12 I continue my journey by leaving the Norte and joining the Camino Primitivo at Oviedo Cathedral.
Todays destination to ‎⁨Las Regueras⁩, Asturias

“Still round the corner there may wait a new road or a secret gate, and though I oft have passed them by, a day will come at last when I shall take the hidden paths that run west of the moon, east of the sun”

~ Frodo

Wow! Today flew by ! It’s evening already. Lights out already in my Albergue soooo pix for the day now, text later. First day of hard walking, lots of conversation with all the other friendly pilgrims outside in the sun, then a evening dinner around nine.

-gentle night rain now…

Connecting with Holger at last at the Oviedo Cathedral! This is the official starting point of the Camino Primitivo . A warm reunion indeed. Hopefully the drizzle dissipates. Off for a cafe con leche after a quick look-see in the famous cathedral then we take step number one of a continued Camino - at least for me as Holger started in Llanes on the Norte walking solo (likely to regain the flow of the Camino).

Altar in Cathedral Oviedo

Pipes - still can’t find anyone to play Bach toccata and fugue in D minor. O snap !

The image of El Salvador (The Saviour), who the Cathedral is named after, is a 13th century polychrome stone sculpture that has characteristics of the transitional style from Romanesque to Gothic. The image represents Christ the Redeemer blessing with his right hand and with the left he is holding the cosmic orb, symbol of his omnipotence in the Universe.

It is an image of special devotion for the pilgrims following the "Way of Saint James", a trail that starts in Oviedo and ends at the Apostle's tomb. King Alfonso lI, The chaste, was purportedly the first person to trek it. The "Original Way" starts at the Cathedral, but it also a pilgrimage destination, as a result of the remarkable relics that are conserved in the Holy Chamber.

(This statue was the single item I found most interesting in the cathedral beside the organ of course). I found it a moving sculpture

Those pilgrims who visit this cathedral keep in mind a fragment of a French song that says: "Whoever goes to Santiago and not to the Saviour visits the servant and forgets the Lord."

El Salvador at Oviedo Cathedral

Well, we got off to a colorful start walking actually back north somehow. Unintentional Camino variant we named Nora y Carmen (with assistance by Jaime Tesla taxi driver). Yup we got a wee bit lost but got dropped off by taxi back on Camino route roughly where we should have been initially to minimize (cheat) kilometers

Back on track ( no intentional cheat kilometers )

Capellini de Santa Carmen where we got our second sello / stamp of the Primitvo

Beautiful walking together beating the weather - rain clouds which tend to form mid afternoon

Way marker. The rays of the shell all converge pointing west -the direction we head

This ancient chestnut tree still had some life left in it

Our Albergue 24€ a nite. Maybe 15 people staying overnight. This was a great stay with a wonderful meal in their improv restaurant

I want this jersey bad! (I found it in a bike shop store in Santiago and bought one. I’m thrilled) My biking friend Antonio is 71 anos de edad. we compared notes in the morning about our aches and pains he can no longer walk long distances due to his back. Kind of sounds like me. He has ridden 7000 km YTD! A good justification for the use of an electric bike his day today will be 71 km. Ours will be in the neighborhood of 20 to 22 max. ( I have a 15 mile maximum daily limit right now until my body adjust, but even at 15 that gets me to the finish line on schedule.). Antonio (and friend) bike all over most of the year - what a great retirement and how fortunate to simple live on Camino on a bicycle, albergue to albergue.

Fall roses in Espana

Highlight of the day: walking instead of cycling. Day one of the Prmitivo was an auspicious 32000 + steps

“Hiking – I don’t like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains – not hike! Do you know the origin of that word ‘saunter?’ It’s a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, “A la sainte terre,’ ‘To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers. Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not ‘hike’ through them.””

~ John Muir