Potes to Espinama

19 km on the road, following the River Deva upstream ... the pilgrim path is 6 or 7 further, mostly well marked with the familiar yellow arrow, lifting us up away from the cars, along mountain tracks, through pretty villages. ... down again, then steeply up and finally the famous Mogrovejo with evidence of tourist development, friendly dogs and a cafe with wifi ... closed ... they have gone to the market at Potes. . .

Before that, reflection on yesterday's commentary on the albergue, which provided comfortable accommodation for two nights at a nominal €5 a night ... some gratitude required to balance the critique ... micro-wave breakfast porridge notwithstanding ... Thank You!

Dropping back to the quiet road, ascending more gradually, more reflection ... on high roads and low roads ... being by nature rather lazy, the temptation is to stick with the cars and the river ... the views reward the effort ... balance perhaps the key ... let's see ... anyway, the hostel by the road comes soon enough at the halfway mark, 3 hours into the walk ...

The next path up is almost perfect ... not too steep ... through woodland with amazing autumnal views ... a track for farmers grazing cows ... then into Trevino ... a rest next to its 17th century locked church ... and at 5.5 km to Espinama by road, the arrows propose upping again ... the info is not entirely clear, but a finger post offering 4 hours diversion is not amusing at this stage, so it's on the hard shoulder for an hour ... the private hostel soon located, beautifully situated, homely and friendly ... Jose lights the log burner ... the only customer so far, though this is open to all and climbers and walkers are about ... probably booked ahead elsewhere ... the editor will have to wait for more pilgrim profiles ... a rare menu del dia. .. vegetarian option ... and an even rarer salad ingredient of banana, which works well ...four restaurants to choose from ... the first advertised
that English was spoken, indicating English speaking tourists about ... the menu more important than that, the second one had the veggie menu so that was it ...

For readers who like the details, this current route is called the Camino Vadiniense, from San Vicente to Mansilla de las Mulas, incorporating the Camino Lebaniego, which runs from San Vicente to Santo Toribio ... tomorrow it is over the watershed at Fuente De and down into Castille y Leon at Portilla de la Reina ...