Camino del Norte
15.4 km, 238 m up and 244 m down, through 5 places, 3 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from La Almuña. Most are too small to sleep in — a fountain, a chapel, a bar that may or may not be open — but they are what the day is actually made of.
Located off the camino along the N-634. No particular reason to detour.
From Barcia the walk is across gently rolling hills, though along paved country roads. There is a small descent into the east side of Luarca, which is located along a bend in the Río Negro. After crossing the river you enter into the historic center of town, where the majority of the accommodation options and all of the charm are to be found.
Leaving Luarca the camino climbs a bit, winding its way uphill though a residential expansion of the city. The road straightens out and levels off, and the camino follows it all the way to Otur. It crosses the N-634 along the way and when it passes through Otur (which is located on the N-634) it does so to the south of town.
A hamlet between Luarca and Otur. No services.
The camino keeps to this back road through Otur. It follows a not very straight path, and its twists and turns are designed to lessen the steepness of the climb up the Monte Faro. It doesn't climb all the way to the top thankfully, just far enough to get around the nearby A-8. The descent is steeper and brings you to the N-634 once again, which descends to the bottom of the shallow river valley and to Bao.
In Bao the camino follows the N-634 over the Río Barayu but quickly leaves it along a path on the left, charting a different course up this hillside to Villapedre.
In Villapedre the camino follows along the N-634, but only very briefly. Do not miss the arrow to your right which takes you back onto a country road and over the railway tracks. It is the quieter path to Piñera but does require you to cross back over the N-634 again.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 246 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 22.8 km.
Esta entidad ha sido beneficiaria de una ayuda del Programa de incentivos a la movilidad eficiente y sostenible (MOVES III), gestionado por la Xunta de Galicia a través del Instituto Enerxético de Galicia (INEGA) en el marco del Real Decreto 266/2021, y cofinanciada por la Unión Europea — NextGenerationEU, dentro del Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia.