Camino Norte, Day 12 and 13, Avile to La Caridad to Ribideo

We wanted to get to where we could walk the rest of the way to Santiago, so we bused from Avile to La Caridad. We had a bit of a scare leaving Avile, when Laura’s knee buckled under her twice. We didn’t know it at the time, but this might have been the start of her bout with shingles. However, we got on the bus, and popped into La Caridad, and set about finding out hotel, the Casa Xusto, having seen many pilgrims from the bus as they walked on the hiway. This looked like a good section to skip due to hiway walking.

Next morning, we were up at the crack of 8, and on the trail by 9. At Valdepares we took the coastal option rather than the main Camino, so we could see some ocean views.

We hiked for awhile with a pleasant Canadian fellow, and Laura compared navigation apps with him.

We saw several spectacular beaches along the way. This one was the best, Playa de Penarronda, and practically deserted except for some surfers.

We walked on the open plain, surrounded by pastures, then in the woods, and came to the city of Ribadeo. Our route was 90% on paved country roads, not much traffic. Our road “T”ed into the hiway near the bridge leading to Ribadeo. We walked on the right side of the bridge, a very long and high bridge, and on the other side went into an underpass that led to town. It was a city of 10,000 residents, but it felt bigger. There is a marina, and great beaches. It was inhabited in prehistoric times, by Iberians, Celts, and Romans. This was about a 20 km day, a lot of distance for us, but it was pretty much level.

Costs from Avile to La Caridad by bus.
Breakfast €8
Bus €22
Dinner €10
Casa xusto €68
Groceries €21

Costs La Caridad to Ribadeo

Drinks, pinchxtos €4
Drinks €4
€79 hotel Cadazo, €42 laundry (yikes, what a rip) €143 total bill
90% paved country roads, some paved trail. No hiways.