I scouted my Asheville Camino hike with Judy M. with its many turns and road crossings.

The first half of the walk is through greenways or dirt paths that will eventually become official greenways. French Broad River Park morphs into Carrier Park.

We walk on the narrow, twisty road which passes in front of the transfer station – in other words, the dump. I put up my hiking poles like two flags.

“You can’t miss us now”, I say to the traffic.

Then we turn onto the Hominy Creek Greenway, only 0.7-mile long, and eventually on Haywood Rd. in W. Asheville.

I show off my neighborhood of coffee houses – which I can rate – breweries which remain a mystery to me, restaurants, and an art gallery coop.

The heart of cool West Asheville is only a few blocks long. As we get further east, east West Asheville, as it’s called, the stores devolve into car repair shops, low end cafes, abandoned buildings, and a couple of fenced in, private houses.

Haywood Rd. turns left and we turn with it, leaving West Asheville and going into the River Arts District, taking the trail under Haywood Rd.

“This is the crossing over point of the figure eight we’re walking. We went right this morning. Now we’re going left.”

The paved path was built by New Belgium Brewery of Fort Collins. Like other national breweries, New Belgium came into Western North Carolina with full fanfare and anticipation. They were going to bring jobs, infrastructure and new tourists.

We walk on the French Broad River Bridge and get stopped by the arms of a train crossing. The freight train hasn’t appeared yet. It’s going to be a long wait.

We walk in with our packs and hiking poles and meet Brit J. Oie, one of the artists in Riverside Studios. RAD has hundreds of artists working in small corners in what was forgotten buildings. Now they seem to be thriving. Brit’s work depicts mountains as collage and acrylic paint – it’s the most eye-catching work in this studio. It also doesn’t hurt that she’s the only artist that greets us and explains her work.

Our official lunch stop on this walk is at White Duck Taco. Since my digestive system can’t handle fried white flour, I brought my lunch of tuna packets and crackers which I eat discreetly.

Judy orders two fish tacos, which are brought out immediately.

“On the Camino, you can bring your lunch and just order a coffee,” I say.

About half way through the RAD district, we turn left and out of the neighborhood.

“This is where our climb starts,” I say as we weave through Southside on our way to Mission Hospital area. In the back of the hospital, our real upward pull starts.

“You can go ahead if you want,” I say but Judy isn’t going much faster. We climb to Beaucatcher Mountain. New houses perch precariously on the hill side. If they fall, they’ll take down the houses below, like tumbling dominos.

We reach the top of the road and zigzag down, passing apartment complexes.
After walking through the Martin Luther King Jr. area, we turn into the Bountiful City Community Gardens.

“When I first came to Asheville, I somehow bumped into this garden,” I say.

They were growing kiwifruit. Kiwifruit? I’d never seen kiwifruit growing outside of New Zealand. I thought I had moved to heaven.”

The kiwifruit vines seem to be gone but there are lots of signs on trees: apples, pears, … and just as quickly we go over the pedestrian bridge to Pack Square and into the French Broad Chocolate Lounge for a scoop of ice cream.

I’m tired and my feet are even more tired. If I was on the real Camino in Europe, I’d be walking again tomorrow and the next day and the next.

We go into the Basilica of St. Lawrence. It’s open on a Tuesday afternoon – amazing – when most other churches in the area are only open on Sundays. I feel conspicuous with my pack and hiking poles.

“Look at the ceiling,” I whisper. We pick up pamphlets about the architecture of the basilica.

Here’s another Spanish connection.

Guastavino, a contemporary of Gaudi, emigrated from Barcelona. He’s most famous for his tiled domes. You can see his work at Grand Central Terminal and Ellis Island, part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument. He was hired to work at the Biltmore Estate and was captivated by the area. He stayed in Western North Carolina. It seems that the Basilica was his retirement project and his donation to the community.

Up Haywood St. (not to be confused with Haywood Rd.) and we’re back at the visitor center and our cars. It’s only 4pm.