It was nice to again wake up in a hotel bed and start the day with a big buffet breakfast (making sure to pack sandwiches for lunch and chocolate pastries for morning snack). We set off quite late, around 8:45am, but feeling great. It was a cold start, again around 13 degrees, with an extended downhill section.
At 30km we stopped by a small village park and had pastries and Viki had a nap. It then warmed up and, as usual, the second half of the day was a bit too hot. We stopped for sandwiches at 62km in a bus stop that felt like a sauna. At 87km we stopped at the Cathedral in Oviedo (we deviated the route specifically to see it), where we got our pilgrim passports stamped and had spanish omelet and drinks. We chatted for a while with some friendly ladies who shared their sardines and chorizo with us.
I stopped at a small bike shop to borrow a pump, where the owner kept saying “dale sin miedo!” (“Give it without fear!”) as I was pumping. It was pretty weird. We left. Shortly after I got a flat. I couldn’t find any air leak on the tube but did find a micro pin tip on the inside of the tire. There goes our last tube. Hopefully we find somewhere to buy another soon.
Finally, we arrived at our destination of a pilgrim’s alburgue at 116km around 7pm. This one has 55 beds, about 30 filled tonight, costs €9 per person and seems much more typical than the tiny 4 person alburgue we stayed in a few nights ago. We had bolognese rice with sausage and peanuts for dinner and chatted with some of the other pilgrims.
Did it work out to get the new tires in Barcelona?
Nope – still using the old ones. At least only 2 flats so far and nearing the end