After a very long and strenous hike yesterday, today we decided to have a lie in at the fabulous Albergue Miguelín, and enjoyed a hearty breakfast at 8AM. Note: there is nowhere else to eat/shop in La Mesa, and the albergue only started breakfast at 8AM, so it wasn’t like we had any choice…
PS: If you had stayed in Berducedo the night before and had not had breakfast, then La Mesa/Albergue Miguelín will be a good option to have breakfast/2nd breakfast because after this there won’t be anywhere to stop for snacks until Vistalegre (5km before Grandas de Salime).
Route overview and statistics
| Distance 16.2 km | Average speed 4.5 kph |
| Maximum altitude 1043 m | Ascent 550 m |
| Minimum altitude 219 m | Descent 844 m |
From La Mesa it was a steep but luckily short uphill towards Buspol (154 m in 1.6km) and from there it was a steady descent, sometimes steep and over loose gravel towards the reservoir (Embalse de Salime). In fact it was a drop of 832 m over switchback trail covering 8.4 km! Pretty much all the climb we did the day before over the Hospitales 😀
We think this was the most scenic walk in all of Primitivo, because we could see the reservoir from varying altitude and distance, and the weather was lovely. Of course when we crossed the dam, we stopped for a much deserved ice cream!
Chapel of Santa Marina de Buspol
The chapel dated back to the 14th century, however only the bell remained from the original construction. The current slate building was reconstructed at the beginning of the 20th century.
From here, we began our descent towards the reservoir. The view was absolutely spectacular!
Embalse de Salime (Salime Reservoir)
The Salime reservoir in the upper basin of the Navia river was, at the time it opened in 1954, the largest in Spain and the second in Europe. During its construction, the town Salime was flooded and numerous highways and roads were cut off. In order to dry the bed where the dam wall would be built, the river had to be diverted and therefore a tunnel was excavated. A cable car which spanned 37 km with 8 stations were also constructed to transport building materials. Over 4,000 workers were on site and 4 villages and a school were built to house them and their families. There were approximately 300 deaths related to the building of the reservoir, due to precarious working conditions and food shortages. Inside the reservoir, there is a large mural with the faces of Picasso, Einstein, Planck, and Freud. This work was completed much later in 2001.
Boca de Ballena, the hanging viewpoint
The reservoir itself is best viewed from the hanging viewpoint located on the right bank of the river, also called La Boca de la Ballena (Whale’s Mouth), you can see why!
Virgen de la Luz, sculpture on the reservoir
Located between the viewpoint and the dam was a sculpture of the Virgen de la Luz. It currently stands before the road passes over the dam. During the dam construction this was venerated by hundreds of workers.
A short walk after crossing the bridge to the other side of the reservoir, we arrived at Vistalegre, where there is a dog friendly Hotel Las Grandas with a large terrace overlooking the reservoir. After 10 km walking (or 15 km if you have started in Berducedo), it was definitely time for 2nd breakfast! We stopped for some ice cream and it seemed everyone else had the same idea too.
After our much needed break, it was another 5.5 km to Grandas de Salime. Today is a short walk and we really took our time with breakfast and snack!
Grandas de Salime
We arrived at our albergue, which was conveniently located at the entrance to the town, in the early afternoon. Unfortunately it was Saturday, and all the shops (supermarkets and butcher shops) were only open halfday, and would not reopen until Monday (!) Damn, we missed it by 20 minutes. It was a pity that we could not cook today because our albergue had a large and fully equipped kitchen! Maybe in the future, they should also have a small shop to sell essentials for pilgrims, wouldn’t that be great?
So what could we do in Grandas de Salime?
Church of San Salvador
This 17th century church building is encircled by a round-arched porch. The oak wood doors are even older and dated back to the 15th century. The church was not opened when we were there but it is a nice landmark in the middle of the town and the porch provides a nice big shade.
Ethnographic Museum of Grandas de Salime
A must visit for all pilgrims staying in Grandas de Salime! The museum is open every day except on Monday, with a modest entry fee of €1.50, but free of charge every Tuesdays or on 18th May, International Museum Day. The museum housed the private collection of José María Naveiras Escanlar, better known as Pepe el Ferreiru, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and the Principality of Asturias which provided the facilities and ongoing conservation.
The museum consists of 4 subsections: the rectory, the corral, the miller’s house, and the mansion. It is accessed through the corral that surrounds the rectory. At the centre, there is a large walnut tree. In the rectory, visitors can observe the daily life inside a traditional rural house: the kitchen and a large open space bedroom/living room. The other rooms in the rectory showed a textile room with an old loom as a centrepiece, a shoemaker’s workshop (Mommy’s favourite!), a cellar, tavern, a wood room, and a forge. Each room was complemented with articles and tools from the era. On the other side of the walnut tree is the mill where visitors can see a working hydraulic flour mills.
The large mansion is divided up into various rooms: a grocery store, complete with products from bygone eras including Mommy’s new favourite drink: a Spanish lemonade called Casera! A barbershop, a tailor shop, a dental clinic, a school, and a shed with traditional farming tools and agricultural machineries.
All in all, it was a charming place and a great way to spend a couple of hours in the afternoon while waiting for laundry to dry.
Accommodation and cost
This was one of our favourite dog friendly albergue on the Camino! Albergue Porta de Grandas – if we could describe an ideal dog friendly albergue, this would be it! Essentially, it’s an albergue which provides mix dormitory as well as private rooms. The private dog friendly room is simple yet practical, there is a shower, a hair dryer, and dog bed/water bowl. And a twin room for 2 pilgrims and a dog (€45) which cost just slightly over the shared dormitory bed (€15/person). Oh, and a large fully equipped kitchen and dining room. The albergue also owns a grass field in front of the hotel with some picnic tables and washing line. This albergue has everything!
Reflection on day 6
This was a nice and relaxing day, kinda like a “rest day”. We didn’t leave until after 9AM and arrived in our albergue at 2PM with so many photo breaks and a long ice cream break. This was practically a rest day! The town of Grandas de Salime itself is big enough to accommodate bored pilgrims – the museum was interesting and there are about 3 bars in town, one of them is open from 7AM for breakfast the following morning.
Health check: My paw is healing well, the superficial lacerations from day 1/2 are healing, the surface today was hard on my paws (loose sharp rocks) and the sun was quite hot in the afternoon after our ice cream break, but luckily we were not out in the shadeless highway (re: hot tarmac!) for very long and soon the Camino entered another forested area which was cooler and the ground was softer. Ooh, I also had 1 tick bite on my thigh which I managed to bit the head off myself, but apparently a part of its leg was still stuck inside me, so Mommy had to surgically remove it. She had some special cream and spray too so afterwards I didn’t suffer too badly from the inflammation.
Mostly Mommy felt relieved that my paws didn’t suffer too badly from hot tarmac/sharp rocks, she had some booties just in case, but they didn’t fit me particularly well, especially in hot conditions. So Mommy was keeping them for the worst case scenario.
Until tomorrow!
