Day 29 Villademoros to Luarca 10.1ml 991ft – Total 405ml 47293ft

Shock ! Horror ! Surprise ! We came across two open churches today 😲 We’ve found so many of them locked on this Camino that we just try the doors as a matter of habit with no expectation at all of them being open. Both of these churches had somebody official in them but I think they were just looking after the buildings as opposed to being priests themselves.

Anyway it made a nice change and gave us something to look at and admire that was different than the usual. The first one (Iglesia San Miguel) had murals painted directly onto the walls which made the inside very bright and colourful

The 2nd one open was the Parish Church of Barcia which contains a statue of The Virgin of Snow apparently. I must admit I didn’t spot the Virgin of Snow but there was a very fitting stain glass window in there.

I have to admit I really, really, didn’t feel like walking this morning and all my head wanted to do was lay down and go to sleep. Luckily, as it turned out, it was a short day and actually a very pleasant walk without too much road walking or too much heat involved. (I notice the humidity level has gone down from 87-100% to 50%, thankfully). The unexpected churches and then the first site of Luarca made it all worthwhile. It’s a stunning little harbour town with huge natural cliffs all around it protecting it from the weather. It’s very photogenic and I just hope my pictures below have done it justice.

And finally here’s a picture of a local in Chorizo hunting garb. I’ve been told that they wear this strange costume and slowly carry out a complicated dance around the Chorizo whilst spinning the ball in their right hand. This lulls the Chorizo into a false sense of security and the hunter can pounce whilst it’s in a stupor.