Oviedo – Escamplero
Being careful of not repeating my past mistake of walking too many miles the first couple of days, I only walked to the village of Escamplero (8 miles). However, I took a detour to the Pre-Romanesque church of Santa Maria del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo, both located on a hill above Oviedo. When I arrived, the morning sun lifted the last remnants of the mist covering the area, creating a nearly mystical atmosphere.
After leaving the place, the path took me further up the hill through a deep ravine with many shades of green, the first of many marvelous ravines still to come on my trek. Marigold, hydrangea, roses, geranium were growing in the villages and in front of the typical Asturian square shaped granaries called Hórreo.
By not being in a hurry, I could listen to the birds, observe the spiders in their delicate spider webs and smell the wild roses blooming in abundance. The well-marked trail with the symbol of the shell always pointing with the narrow end to the direction of the path made it easy not to get lost.
In comparison to the Camino in France (Via Lemovicensis) or the popular Camino Francés in Spain, where great Romanesque churches are along the way, the Camino Primitivo is a place of little chapels. Most of them were locked.
I met an author last Saturday who wrote a book about “Camino de Santiago” and her trip and misadventures there. So I am reading her book and visiting your post here….even though I know this adventure was a few years back.
In walking the camino, one often meets the inner “damon” in outer circumstances.
I hope to be able to walk the “Camino del Norte” or the “Via della Plata” sometimes
next year or the year to follow. It is a very special experience.