Day 9 - Tineo to Samblismo

After the best night’s sleep so far on the Camino, I awoke feeling refreshed and ready to hit the trail, but as today was only a short 16.2Km I decided to take my time before commencing. I rearranged my pack, had breakfast, made a couple of calls home, and hit up the ATM for some much-needed funds.

The reason for today’s short distance is that I’m staying tonight where the trail splits into what can be described as the high road and the low road. Because I’m a sadist I’ll be taking the high road up and over what’s known as the Hospitales Route, a tough trail that passes the ruins of three former pilgrim hospitals. However, this trail is very weather dependent, with fog being enemy number one. At this stage only rain is forecast, so keep everything crossed for me, folks. 

Today’s trail was another beautiful stroll through farmland and forests, with the soundtrack being the tinkling of cowbells and the chittering of birds respectively. I’ll never get sick of listening to either of these. Halfway through the day I also managed to visit the ruins of the Monasterio de Obona, which was a cultural and economic powerhouse in the 11th and 12th centuries. Now it lies in ruins, which I got to clamber over and explore for half an hour. It was definitely worth the 250m detour.

After that Tomb Raider-esque exploration, I cruised the final kilometers to my endpoint, the wonderful Samblismo Albergue, where I’ll enjoy a home-cooked vegetarian meal and watch the weather closely. Over a beer of course. 

Distance - 16.2Km 

Difficulty - ⭐️⭐️/5

Camin-oh no! - Finding Taberna de Moe (Moe’s Tavern!) after already having breakfast. 

Camin-oh hell yeah! - Ice cold Coca-Cola. I never drink it at home but on the trail, it’s become the go-to accompaniment to my second breakfast. 

@caminoagogo