Pria to Bueno
Distance: 17.2 miles (27.6 kilometers)
Total Ascent: 220 meters
Difficulty: 1
Calories Burned: 3,832
I awoke from the strangest dreams last night. We stayed in a church rectory, the only two pilgrims in a 50-bed albergue, and although we had a private room and a gorgeous view of the hillsides, I had the strangest fears…of bed bugs and lice and poisoned spaghetti. Needless to say, I didn’t sleep well.
As we began our day at 7:30 am, we literally walked through fog. We could feel the wetness on our skin, and the air was actually thick. I was sweating, but my sweat felt like I was being saran wrapped.
It didn’t start out all that awesome.
But Andrew and I had committed to our German friend, Lisa, that we would meet her in La Isla to see her off in style. She is headed back to Germany, and we were planning a going away dinner for her, so we fully intended to walk the 27+ kilometers to say goodbye.
The day certainly improved, as we got to walk through flower fields and along beaches for the entire day. And we made friends with an Irishman, an Australian and two Germans, so the conversation was quite lively. And before we knew it, we found ourselves at a beach bar.
Lisa had just emailed me to tell me that she had gone on to another town, so we wouldn’t be seeing her after all. And instantly, I decided that today was going to be a honeymoon day! We ordered a beer and a gin and tonic (they make them huge here!) at the beach bar (the first beach bar we’ve seen on our trip), determined that we were going to finish out our day as a pub crawl, and I went online to find the best place I could for less than $70/night (we’ve gotten quite stingy, but you’d be surprised).
We stopped at a Peregrina pub (notice that they catered to the ladies) for a bottle of cider, and literally giggled our way right up to the steps of….Downton Abbey.
Okay, not really, but we found the most stunning B&B in a little town called Bueno (yes, we actually made it past La Isla after all, even a bit sauced). Los Caspios was a private home that belonged to a general, and was then sold and turned into a hotel in 2006. The grounds were magnificent and when we arrived. Our hospitable host, Diego, had seen my note that it was our honeymoon and that we were pilgrims from Booking.com, and he upgraded us to a private suite with an enclosed balcony overlooking the ocean, grounds and mountains.
He then offered to bring us breakfast on our veranda at 9am, and suggested that we go to the Palacio de Bueno for dinner. A bottle of wine and two episodes of Downton Abbey (who am I kidding, we splurged and watched three), Andrew and I had the best sleep of our Camino. We awoke this morning, made love, and are now enjoying our “veranda breakfast.”
How posh!
We are so enjoying our little slice of honeymoon, and are waiting a bit before getting on the road today.
