Camino del Norte
29.6 km, 693 m up and 676 m down, through 6 places, 2 of which have somewhere to sleep. Where you stop is up to you.
Every place on the path in order, with the distance from Villaviciosa. 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.
Pay close attention to the arrows through town. The camino follows a route which takes you past most of the more notable monuments, including the Ayuntamiento building, the monument to Carlos I, and the Iglesia de Santa María de la Oliva. At the church it turns left to follow the AS-255 out of town and to La Ferrería.
In La Ferrería the camino leaves the road and crosses the Río de la Ria. On the other side of the small river is La Parra.
Follow the road through the small village, but turn right at the end of town to follow the VV-10 in the direction of Grases. Casquita, and an important split in the camino, are 1km away.
For Oviedo and the Camino Primitivo: Turn left at the fork in the road in the direction of Camoca. The camino passes through several small hamlets on before arriving in San Pedro de Ambás: El Ronzon, La Fontana, El Campu, El Pelu Riva, and La Cruz. After La Cruz, at a small intersection with a picnic table in the middle, the camino splits. The camino is to the left, and the alternate route via Valdedíos is to the right. This alternate route adds 700m hundred meters and rejoins the camino at the Alto de la Campa. If you miss this turn, and still want to go through Valdedíos, stay on the road when you get to San Pedro de Ambás and there are more arrows directing you to Valdedíos.
In Casquita the Camino del Norte splits twice. Pay extra close attention to which route you chose as not all of them rejoin later.At the first split, just past the chapel at the start of the village and indicated by two shells on a post, you are presented with the option to leave the Camino del Norte and head towards Oviedo and the start of the Camino Primitivo. If you wish to follow that trail (not described here) turn left. Otherwise keep on straight to follow the official camino.Shortly ahead is the second split. Here the camino simply presents an option to stay on the road instead of turning left onto a lane. Here the road option is shorter and does not pass through Niévares.
Beyond Niévares the camino joins the VV-8 and follows it to Peón.
Beyond Peón the camino leaves the VV-8 and begins climbing uphill. It rejoins a different road at the summit and descends along it as far as the El Pinal restaurant. Just beyond the restaurant it leaves the road for a trail on your right. From here it continues desceding to cross the A-8 and into Deva.
From the campsite in Deva there are two possible routes into Gíjon. The offical camino turns right at the campsite (with the campsite on your left). The alternative and some say more pleasant route along the river, turns left at the campsite and downhill past the parking lot. At the bottom of the hill it joins a path known as the Senda de Peña Francia, turn right when you get there. This alternative will bring you into Gíjon near the Playa de San Lorenzo. To get to the offical camino arrows simply follow the coast through town as far as the harbor where it passes.
As you near the large and largely industrial city of Gijón the countryside virtually disappears. From here, all the way to Avilés, is difficult walking almost exclusively on pavement through city and industrial areas; the exception to the grime is the protected habitat west of the steel plant.
The best landmark to use when leaving Gíjon is the boat harbor. Follow along the coast, as far as the first residential apartment blocks to appear on your right-hand side. Pass to the right of the first building, heading down the Calle de Mariano Pola. Keep on this road as it changes names; first to the Avenida de Galicia then to the Avenida de la Argentina, and finally to the Carretera de Avilés. It is mostly straight with only a few bends and entirely city walking. By the time you get to the end of the city the view ahead reveals a massive steel production plant directly in front of you. The way around it the least pleasant stretch of the entire camino but there are no good options here. Descend to the road and turn right, following it around the factory. Keep an eye open for the turn off to the left which is not easy to notice with all of the traffic: it can be identified as being the only level railway crossing in the area and a sign points the way to Poago. Follow this road. It will eventually turn away from the factory and begin to wind up the hillside known as the Monte de Areo, the last part of the climb is along trails. This hillside is the silver lining of the gray cloud cast by the nearby factory, it is the location of the oldest known necropolis in Asturias as well as a Neolithic dolmen. From the highest point the camino descends to Santa Eulalia.
Distance, climb and descent are measured along the GPS track for this camino — 453 recorded points across this span, the same track the app carries. The town-to-town figures in my data put it at 30.6 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.