Nueva de Llanes September 9

The festival in Llanes yesterday was the culmination of the two week festival of the Virgin. Quite spectacular with many people in folk costumes, parades, bands, marching, dancing and on and on. There were some fireworks, but at least the festivities didn't last until 5 in the morning like they did last year in Ponte de Lima, Portugal. Remember that, Marge?

Today is day 16 of our camino. We are just past the halfway point to Santiago de Compostela, with just under 400 km or 250 miles to go. Nueva is between the cities of Llanes and Ribadesella.

Since both Greg and I now have full blown colds with sniffles and sneezes, we decided to take it easy for a few days. Today we only walked 20 km or 12 miles. Tomorrow we plan about a 16 km day, then we will ramp it up again. We are taking cold medication from the farmacia-not sure what's in it but it is helping. Also helping is that there were no really steep stages on today's walk. And a lot of it on dirt and gravel paths, too.

There is no albergue here, so we are treating ourselves to a room in a pension with private bath and shower. Luxury (compared to an albergue) for only 30€ a night. We both took naps this afternoon, so you nursies out there can stop worrying if we are taking care of ourselves.

Thankfully, Big Puppy decided to take a full day of rest in Llanes, so we were able to walk without having someone two steps behind all the
way. He was going to spend the day praying in the church there and was going to pray for Greg and I, too. He has 7 more weeks to find his
way to Santiago, so should be able to do it without us.

9 pm. I forgot to mention Greg's lunch of canned calamares ren su tinta (calamari in it's own ink). I tried some but continued with my usual sardines. For dinner tonight I had the fabadas asturianas, large white beans with blood sausage, chorizo, bacon, and ham.