Day 3 was my shortest and steepest day. My two colleagues hiked with me, but both continued on. I would have done so as well, except that I had made reservations prior to where they would stop. Although I remained in contact, I never saw Mauro again. I saw Ane when she was waiting for a bus the next day.
After leaving Cicera, we encountered the hardest climb of the entire camino. When we reached the crest at mile 2.0, we had climbed 1244 feet, with a grade for part of it at nearly 24%. This was especially tough carrying packs!
But the views of the mountains in nearby Picos de Europa National Park were fantastic.
After cresting at the 2 mile mark, we descended for the next 3.2 miles, dropping over 2000 feet to the Church of Santa Maria. Next to this church was a small snack bar, where I obtained a lemon drink and a stamp for my credential.
We then crossed a small river and ascended in some deep woods. Below you can see a photo of me hiking that was taken by one of my companions.
It was in these woods that we parted company, as the other two pilgrims took a shortcut that skipped my destination of Cabañes. I got to my hostel (shown below) early, and regretted not being able to continue on - a sign said that it was only a little over 2 hours further to Potes, which was a much bigger town. Cabañes had no stores or cafes. But the
Albergue la Casuca del Person was a great place to relax and dry out my sweaty clothes! I ended up sharing my room with just one other person, which was a switch from my previous nights in full hostels. Unfortunately, she was a woman from an eastern European country - maybe Croatia - and she was positively surly! The least friendly person I would meet on my entire journey. I never saw her before and would never see her again.
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