First rainy day -- to Pola de Allande

There wasn't much rain yesterday so even though it was cloudy, it was obvious how beautiful this area is. 

I walked around town, where the main attraction for me was the iron grating on the door of the 13 C church. 

A few pretty houses here and there but all in all, Tineo has seen better days. 

Last night, feast of San Juan, the town had its traditional bonfire at midnight with a lot of merrymaking before and after. I was sorry not to be able to go, but the time really didn't fit with the pilgrim walking schedule. But we did gather for a copa and to say goodbye to Matt and Joel, who've been with me off and on since Leon. 

Today's walk was a little longer than I've had lately. Lots of ups and downs and lots of mud. And after about the first 15kms, there were several hours of precipitation ranging from mist to drizzle to light rain but thankfully never anything worse than that. 

The weather does make the coffee breaks much more appealing

though. 

So I'm in a little hotel whose restaurant gets tons of awards for its version of Asturias' best known dish -- fabada. And the one real benefit of walking seven hours on a day like today is that the white bean stew was tremendously appealing!