Camino Primitivo, 18.Sep.2022, Grado to Salas, 14.2 miles

Another great day, though did get tired in the last miles. Happily, had David Sedaris’ latest book on Audio and that was completely distracting. Laugh out loud and you forget about hot and hungry and tired 🙂

This is definitely going to be a different Camino. I’ve heard 2 Americans, and 3 British in passing, but that’s it. No one speaks English and so there are no casual pick up conversations. I’m starting to settle in to it!

This is Marta’s home that she converted to an Air B&B. She said it has 14 rooms and she converted 8 to guest rooms. She does everything, it allowed her to keep her house and she judges how much she can handle. All wood is the original chestnut and she showed me the stones on the side that were dug from the nearby hills with shells and fossils in them. 

These stone pieces are what hold up the granary and the square at the top is designed to keep mice out. These granaries aren’t legal as houses because they’re designed to move where the farmer needed them to store grains and other produce. 

Marta was so proud of all the details, she’s showing me the Celtic knots that were carved into the doors for protection. 
These thin lines are from 200 years ago – there are no nails in these buildings, they all slide together and each wall has 1, 2, 3, or 4 lines on them drawn on a diagonal to help people reassemble them when they were moved. 

Whole thing is made out of chestnut, huge beams going the length of the building. Rectangle buildings are female, square male. Rectangle indicated a wealthier family. 

In addition to running the B&B, gathering vegetables, taking care of chickens, goats, dog, cat, Marta also runs her family’s cider press. These are where they store the cider, all used up now, sadly. Just another month and they’ll collect the apples and start up again.

This is downstairs, this is the cow room, below shows the goat room, the doors were brought down from upstairs when it was converted and the animals had long been out.
This is where the chickens were kept. She said people always think it was for arrows, but they had an outside door and when it was closed and the chickens inside, this let in air, but not foxes or any other predator. 
Starting my walk and this is the first thing I saw after Marta dropped me off. How cheerful is that? They’re flower pots both for flowers and designs. Don’t know what this little building is for, storage? But so cared for.
Little cafe in the midst of a town of maybe 10 houses. 
View on other side of the road from the cafe. 
Dogs on Camino…
This sign was obvious – fish without death. But what? Maybe it means catch and release.

This is the Monasterio San Salvador de Cornellana. It’s a 1000 years old, continuously running, now Benedictine and much smaller. Cornellana has a population of 796 and the small, but beautiful chapel was pretty well populated for the Sunday service. They didn’t seem to mind peregrinos walking into the chapel, but no one took photos and I didn’t either. Right next to the chapel was a window looking into the very large cloister and it was a shambles. Man, keeping these things up – maybe just enough so it doesn’t fall down. 

And this is the town where I’m staying, Salas. This church was built in the mid 1500’s by the guy who lived in the castle below. And I’m staying in the castle below! Kind of – I’m in the building attached to it, has an open courtyard in the center with balconies running around it on the 2nd and 3rd floor. I like my simple room, upper floor, looks out over the courtyard. This is the description: The Castle of Valdés Salas is a sober building from the 16th century, which is linked to the 15th century Torre de los Valdés and with which it forms a whole, by means of a lowered semicircular arch bridge where the family coats of arms are displayed. Valdes-Salas. The construction is made of masonry and stonework, a sample of the civil architecture of its time. It was the home of the noble family of the Valdés Salas, whose best known member is Fernando Valdés Salas, religious, inquisitor, politician and founder of the University of Oviedo, buried in the collegiate church of Santa María La Mayor and who was born in this palace. 

Inquisitor does NOT sound nice, but at least he started a university. I also found this note about the town on the Wise Pilgrim site: Salas is the setting for the dramatic capture in the year 1586 of Bartholomeus Cassandra, an Italian pilgrim and habitual thief. Having successfully stolen from a Church in Zaragoza he tried to repeat the effort in Salas. Unfortunately for him he was caught with the loot in hand and sent before the judge. No leniency was granted to Bartholomeus. He was first hanged, then quartered, and finally displayed along the camino. 

When I was talking to Marta this morning during breakfast, she said Spaniards aren’t so upset if you lie to them, but steal? Oh no, definitely don’t do that and rarely will it happen. You can leave your phone and wallet on the table and you’ll be fine. Usually. 

The nice thing is that since the window looks out into the open over the courtyard, I can hear everything in the town, including the guys who are all cheering for the soccer game going on. I don’t know what it is about the Spanish, but they sure do seem to enjoy each other. Walking with family and friends, chatting, laughing, a lot. 

There’s another open space on the other side of that arch where the rest of the castle is – where I’m staying and that’s most of the town. 

Leave a comment