Asturies, Camín al andar

Asturies, Camín al andar

The Coastal Way

Stage 13: Outur - A Caridá

Stage of 24.46 kilometers that runs through the councils of Valdés, Navia, Coaña and El Franco, on a practically flat route, without serious unevenness beyond the initial ascent to Las Hervedosas, at the beginning of the stage, and the subsequent descent to the Navia estuary, in the capital of the council of the same name, with the subsequent ascent towards El Espín and Jarrio, in Coaña.

The route along the western coastal plain of Asturias, between wide meadows, always takes place at a certain distance from the sea, which will not be perceptible by the walker at practically any moment of the stage. There are many small towns that mark the route on this route, such as Villapedre, Piñera, Villaoril, La Colorada, El Espín, Xarrio, Cartavio or Arboces. It will also circulate through two council capitals, Navia and, at the end of the route, A Caridá.

The vast majority of the route is carried out on asphalt or concrete tracks, the path that has a gravel or earth surface is limited to less than a third. There are sections of the historic route, especially in the area of ​​Las Hervedosas and the Barayo river, which have been greatly transformed as a result of the construction of the Cantabrian highway, having established an alternative route, of new invoice, that allows to flank this new communication channel.

This stage passes through areas of deep Jacobean history. The existence of a malateria in San Lázaro de Barayo is documented, whose existence already exists in 1274 and which was still active at the beginning of the 19th century, serving the sick and pilgrims. Likewise, there was a pilgrim hospital in the town of Navia, under the first invocation of the Blessed Sacrament and Santa María Magdalena and which in the 18th century was known as the Santiago Hospital, located on Calle San Francisco and to which the former was linked. parochial church of the capital of naviega. In relation to this hospital, the 18th century documentation shows the death of many pilgrims in Navia, of the most diverse origins, from French to Czechs and Germans.

The passage of the Navía estuary had to be carried out in medieval and modern times by boat, there being many mentions in pilgrims’ accounts of that transit that took place in boats that were owned in the 18th century by the Marquis of Santa Cruz de Castropol, and of whose existence there is still a toponymic testimony in the place of Barqueiros, a town already located on the slope of the estuary belonging to the council of Coaña.

In the council of Coaña, there was a pilgrim hospital in Jarrio, under the invocation of Santa Ana, founded in 1370 by Álvaro Pérez de Coaña, and which would still be in operation at the beginning of the 19th century. Finally, there was another historic pilgrims’ hostel in the capital of the El Franco council, A Caridá, the end point of this stage. In this case, there is hardly any more data on this establishment beyond its mention in the Ensenada cadastre of 1753.

Stage monuments

Stage locations

Stage description

The stage begins in Outur, at a crossroads in the area known as El Palacio.

The Camino de Santiago continues straight ahead, towards the El Rellón neighborhood, leaving isolated farmhouses with granaries and bread boxes on both sides, all between meadows. The road is asphalted and it continues straight, leaving a first detour on the right hand side and shortly afterwards a road intersection. It continues between houses, located in plots surrounded by stone walls that at certain points flank the Camino de Santago.

You pass a new detour to the left and you come to a crossroads in the El Rellón neighborhood, with a large bread basket on the right. On this occasion, you choose the path that continues to the right, uphill, through the Los Remedios neighborhood. After a short walk, you will come to a fork in the roads, with a strip of houses in the space between the two tracks that emerge from this point. The route continues to the right, passing between some houses and soon arriving at a meadow where the Chapel of Los Remedios stands on the right.

The route continues along this road, between meadows, in slight ascent until a curve, in which it continues straight ahead, leaving on the right hand side a farmhouse with a granary and brick factory hut, the path becoming a dirt and stone track Which amounts.

You go up a path sandwiched between slopes of earth and some trees, with good views to the right of the coastal plain and the parish of Outur. After just over two hundred meters, we continue at a fork in the roads, on the right, reaching a steep slope that allows us to see the Cantabrian highway on the left, parallel to which we will continue on.

The route is now a wide dirt and stone track, built at the same time as the highway to allow the continuity of the Camino de Santiago. It descends until crossing, after a steep curve, a stream, passing over a concrete structure, then going up a hill until it joins the AS37 road, which it crosses to continue straight ahead, along a dirt road next to a group of houses, flanked on the right by a stone wall. After just 35 meters, this path leads to a new asphalt road, in a curve, continuing along it, to the right, in the center of Las Hervedosas.

Continue for about 150 meters along the road, on the flat, next to the Hervedosas houses, with good views to the left of El Infernón peak. After that distance, you leave the road, continuing straight ahead along a dirt track, between meadows and scrubland, which leads to a first fork in the road where you continue on the right, a wide gravel track of simultaneous construction to the highway. We continue along this track, leaving a first detour on the left, ascending the slope of Mount Faro between pine trees to a first curve from which views of the coastal plain of the municipality of Navia begin to be seen. Then a steep descent begins, soon passing through a very sharp curve to the left, after which, and after approximately half a kilometer, a detour is taken to the right, along a dirt road much narrower than the track, which enters eucalyptus and scrub, and after leaving another detour on the left, it ends up merging with the N-634 road after about 200 meters down.

Continue along the shoulder of this national highway for approximately 400 meters, reaching El Bao. Before, at the crossing of the river Barayo, there is the transit between the council of Valdés and that of Navia.

After that distance, you will reach a large curve under the huge viaduct of the Cantabrian highway (600 meters long and 70 meters high), at whose feet stands a commemorative monolith of the common grave of victims of Franco’s repression that exists. here.

We continue along the shoulder of the road, following the curve and leaving a small nucleus of just three houses on the right. You continue ascending and after the houses you take the first existing detour to the left, thus leaving the national highway.

After an ascent of about 160 meters, between meadows and with excellent views of El Bao and the highway viaduct, you reach a point where the so-called Casa Carmina rises, made up of a series of buildings, including a built powder magazine. with perfectly carved stone ashlars, as well as a two-story house surrounded by Jacobean motifs (in the case of a small monument to the Apostle Santiago). After turning the curve, it turns to the right, passing in front of the house and a fountain also dedicated to Santiago.

Leaving this group behind, you continue ascending until you pass the path that runs along a dirt and stone track, between meadows, which soon leads to a pine plantation, which you cross, reaching a plain dominated by extensive meadows and with the Villainclán town in the background.

After almost 700 meters of circulation on this track, you will reach the first houses of the town.

On a curve when arriving at the town, it joins a paved road and continues to the left, in the El Carreirón de Villainclán neighborhood. This road runs between the town houses, among which there are several granaries and hórreos. After a curve, in the town, we continue straight ahead at a crossroads, passing by a complex made up of a house, a hut and ancillary buildings, all within a plot surrounded by a stone wall. The path continues along the road, between houses, some bread baskets and meadows. After the group of houses, you come to an area of meadows that soon give way to Villapedre, in the El Calvario neighborhood, passing by a typical house in this western Asturian area, known as Casa El Grillo.

Go straight on at the next intersection that appears, passing later behind a very characteristic Indian village of this place, today dedicated to hotel uses.

Soon you will come to the Villapedre cemetery, to the right of the Camino, behind a high stone wall, and to the national highway. In the cemetery, a tall mausoleum stands out, crowned by a Byzantine dome.

Continue along the shoulder of the national highway, to the left, for just 75 meters, in front of a strip of houses after which you cross the road and continue along a local road that after another 75 meters approximately leads to the church from Santiago de Villapedre and the large oak located next to it.

After the church, you cross an underpass of the railway and continue along the paved road, between meadows, until you reach a two-story house, with a loft in the center of the roof. You must continue at this point to the left, leaving behind the church and the train tracks. You pass by a hut and a laundry room, and without taking any detour you reach the El Barbeitín neighborhood, a small nucleus of houses, with a hut between them.

Continue straight ahead, passing by a good example of a house, typical of this area of the western coastal plain of Asturias, and you end up reaching a crossroads, in the place known as La Peña, with a green area between roads that diverge. You must continue on the one on the left, for about 250 meters, with houses and stone walls on both sides, until you come to a dirt and stone track, which begins after leaving the last houses behind.

We advance along this path, descending first between meadows and then with trees on the left, until after about 400 meters, we reach a curve at the bottom of a small valley, surrounded by trees on the left flank, continuing later, in a slight descent , between trees and bushes, to the Frejulfe river, which is saved thanks to a wooden footbridge, after which it continues along a narrow dirt path, between trees, which after an ascent of just under 200 meters, reaches the national highway, next to a one-story house.

Cross the N-634 road, and continue along a local asphalt road that ascends, between a strip of houses on the left and a slope of land on the right, reaching just a hundred meters later at a crossroads, in front of a house with two floors, built in stone, in which it continues to the right, already in the center of Piñera.

You pass between several houses, some of them with a hut, and after a curve you pass a three-storey stone construction on the right hand side, with a recent shield and with an auxiliary structure built in the manner of an old castle, with battlements that reproduce on the closing wall of the plot.

After that curve, continue straight on along the shoulder of the local road, crossing the railroad tracks by a modern bridge. Then continue straight ahead, for about 270 meters, between isolated houses. Take the first detour to the right, ascending to a bridge over the railroad tracks, after which you take a detour to the left along a dirt track that leads to the church of Piñera.

After the church, you will soon reach the national road, continuing the route to the left along its shoulder. You pass in front of the old Piñera schools, part of which have been enabled as pilgrims’ hostel.

After this building, you leave the national road to take a dirt and stone path that starts on the left, ascending between eucalyptus and bushes first and then through a meadow, always parallel to the national highway, to which you turn to converge after a journey of about 300 meters.

Turning the road back to the national highway, continue along its shoulder, to the left, only about 30 meters, to then cross the road and continue, also to the left, along a narrow dirt path that, between trees and bushes, it descends to the small Rounín stream, which is crossed by a wooden footbridge, then continuing on a slight ascent along a dirt road that becomes sandwiched between natural slopes later on, to converge after about 200 meters, on a further dirt track wide, that between meadows, leads to the left to a paved road, after just over 300 meters of travel.

You turn right at that point, ascending between meadows and isolated houses, in the vicinity of Villaoril (a town whose center is not accessible) until you reach a first fork in the road where you continue on the left , between livestock buildings and homes.

Continue straight on, leaving a detour on the left. You pass through an area of meadows and shortly after a large industrial warehouse is flanked, after which you continue straight ahead, at a crossroads, passing by several houses and ending up on the local road NV3, having to continue to the left, In the direction of La Colorada, a town that can be reached by following this road for just over 600 meters.

On this route you pass through La Venta, where there is an old construction, with a shield, and with a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Sorrows attached, today in a state of ruin. There are also several detours to the right and left (to Andés and Salcedo respectively), after which you will come to a road intersection, on the outskirts of La Colorada.

At that point, we continue to the right, arriving soon at La Colorada, between warehouses first, which then give way to houses.

After about 360 meters of crossing through this nucleus, take a detour to the left, continuing along an asphalt road, between warehouses and some houses, for approximately 200 meters. After that distance, you turn right, along a dirt track that crosses a meadow, and then passes along a mass of pines and chestnut trees, with the nucleus of La Colorada on the right. After just over two hundred meters, you come to a paved road, continuing to the left and reaching the Navia cemetery.

The Way continues bordering the closing wall of the cemetery, along a local road that first circulates between meadows and then begins to descend, between trees, towards the town of Navia, which begins to be glimpsed on the left, from an elevated position.

You go down the road, next to the first houses on the outskirts of Navia, until you reach a street where you have to turn left, now along a sidewalk that leads to the chapel of San Roque.

After the chapel, continue straight ahead, passing over the train tracks and leaving on the left the buildings of the old Navia schools, from the Republican period, now in disuse.

Continue straight on Ramón de Campoamor street, already in the urban center of the capital of the city, between white two-story houses with wooden balconies and other more modern buildings, leaving the detour to the parish church on the left, a few meters away of the official route of the Camino de Santiago. This street in Ramón de Campoamor was one of the communication axes of the old walled center of Navia with the outside, towards the San Roque neighborhood, being one of the places of expansion of the town during the 19th century.

You reach the Plaza de los Concejos located in front of the Town Hall, where there is a fountain.

Continue to the left, leaving the town hall houses on the left of the Camino. You descend in a straight line through the streets Doctor Rafael Calzada and Mariano Luiña NEXT TO THE HOUSE OF COAÑA OF 1692 until you reach the national highway in its transit through Navia, which takes the name of Avenida Regueral, near the point where once, Before the construction of the modern bridge over the estuary, the boat was taken to cross the estuary. You arrive in front of number 19 of this street, leaving the gardens of Avenida Ramón Valdés on the left.

At this point, you turn right, passing under the railway viaduct and reaching the bridge over the Navia estuary, which is crossed by a sidewalk, from which you get splendid views of the mouth of the river and the Gondán shipyards. located in the port of Navia.

This bridge marks the limit between the councils of Navia and Coaña. After leaving the river behind, the path enters the town of El Espín, where remains of old loading docks are still preserved.

Continue for about 70 meters along Avenida Fernando Jardón, coinciding at this point with the route of the national road, to then turn left and continue the route along the local road CÑ3, in the direction of Folgueras, ascending between modern blocks of buildings, some older buildings and parallel to the railroad tracks and the Navia estuary, on the left. Among the old houses stands out one called “La Costa Rica”, built in 1928, which is on the right hand side of the Camino, and which has a main building of three heights and undercover, with cast iron balconies in the main rooms of each floor .

After leaving this building behind, and after 400 meters of traffic on the CÑ-3, take a detour to the right, in the direction of Jarrio. After only 75 meters, you leave this road to take a dirt path that starts from a curve next to a white house of two heights, in the place of Barqueiros, a place name that refers directly to the historic transit of the estuary by boat that took place until the construction of the modern bridge over the estuary.

The dirt and stone track begins a steep ascent, between bushes and eucalyptus trees, passing shortly by a water reservoir and then arriving at an area of very recently built single-family houses. Continue straight, and after a junction with an asphalt road that comes from the left, which you do not take, you continue along a dirt track that passes by the last houses of this nucleus, without taking any of the detours that open to both hands of the route.

You continue straight on, through a plain with wide meadows and views of the Xarrio peak, until you reach the railway tracks half a kilometer later. You then turn left, continuing parallel to the tracks for a little over 300 meters, along a dirt track that runs between meadows and bushes and ends up merging into a local road. Turn right, and after about 375 meters you reach the center of Xarrio, passing in front of the Santana chapel and next to the Casa Basilio, built on the site of the old pilgrim hospital of Xarrio, demolished at the end of the XIX century. The old hospital in Xarrio was founded in 1370 by Alonso Pérez de Coaña at a crossroads on the side of the Jacobean route, its building being rebuilt in the 17th century and demolished in 1892. The chapel of Santa Ana was part of the whole of this healthcare center.

After passing the chapel, the path continues towards the path that continues to the right of the church (seen from the front), between several traditional houses and some granaries.

After the last constructions of Xarrio, the path passes through the so-called Caleyón, under an authentic natural gallery, formed by trees, in an area in which the route is encased between high dry stone walls and some area in the that these give way to slopes excavated in the rock. This is a section of less than 100 meters in length but of extraordinary beauty and heritage interest.

This path converges on a local road, turning right and ascending a slope that leads to another road and to the building of the old schools in Jarrio. The Camino crosses this second road and continues straight ahead, leaving the school building on the right.

We go up a paved road, leaving the so-called pilgrim fountain on the left, between earth slopes. You come to a first crossroads, where you continue along the path to the right, along a dirt path flanked for a few meters, on its right bank, by a wall of concrete blocks, then passing through meadows and more. ahead by the back of some houses, until you come together, 250 meters later, with the local road, having to continue to the right.

Continue along the shoulder of this road, between pine trees, meadows and views to the right of the Cantabrian highway that runs more or less parallel, at a lower elevation. You pass a detour on the right hand side, at the point where you reach the territorial area of the parish of Torce, and then, after 650 meters of driving on the road, you come to a fork in the roads, dominated by a small fountain. Towards the left you reach the town of Louteiro, however continuing the Camino to the right, in the direction of the highway.

You descend along an asphalt road, between meadows and some isolated farmhouses, until after 450 meters you give way to a dirt track, near a roundabout leading to the highway. Then, on a curve, it joins an asphalt track that runs parallel to the highway for almost half a kilometer, until it reaches a flyover over this infrastructure. As soon as you cross the highway, a crossroads appears, where you must turn left, leaving behind a three-storey building built with partly plastered stone masonry. You arrive at the nucleus of El Esteler, with a few houses, a warehouse and a large cabin.

Go straight ahead and after a house, before reaching the national road, take a detour to the left, along a dirt track, which crosses a meadow until you reach a laundry room with a slate roof, taking advantage of this equipment the riverbed Esteler stream. Leave this washhouse behind and come to an asphalt road, in a curve, in which you continue to the right, arriving at the 634 national road, which you cross to continue along an asphalt road, flanked by a boxwood fence, that in ascent leads to a chalet, already in Cartavio.

At this point you leave the asphalt road and continue in front of the house, along a dirt track between meadows, after which you reach a small nucleus of single-family houses, with the route turned into a gravel track, which continues straight ahead, leaving the detour to the church of Santa María on the right hand side, just 170 meters away from the official route.

The track continues straight ahead, passing in front of a farmhouse. After a curve between stone walls, it converges again on the national road, in front of a gas station. Continue to the right along the shoulder of this road for less than 250 meters, leaving the Castro house on the right, which has a chapel dedicated to the Immaculate Conception.

After that distance, a detour is taken to the left, along a paved road that turns right at the first opportunity, passing after 70 meters to a dirt track that runs between modern chalets and then joins another paved road. Turn right and immediately left, parallel to the national road, between meadows and plot closures. It is reached in a slight descent, and after leaving a detour on the right that leads to the national road, to a stone washhouse, in the place of Jonte, with a slate roof and with a large inscription that indicates its construction in 1930.

At this point, you turn right onto a paved road, parallel to the national road, which goes up to a bridge over the railway. You cross and continue to the right, along a gravel track that runs through meadows after a few houses. After about 160 meters, in a curve, it deviates to the left, along a dirt road that goes into a small forest of ??, and then continues between meadows and becomes a gravel track that, finally, at the Reaching a residential area in the town of Castello, it is once again asphalted and leads to the local road FR5, already in the council of El Franco.

Continue along the shoulder of the road to the right, connecting with the national highway. Then turn left and continue along this road for about 230 meters, then take a detour to the left, next to a ship, along an asphalt road that soon turns right, parallel to the national road, crossing a housing area mostly of recent construction. Continue straight ahead at a crossroads and come out, after a total of 330 meters, onto the national road, where you continue to the left for about 60 meters, after which you take a detour to the left, at the town of Arboces, along an asphalt road that continues straight on, leaving a first detour on the right and then another on the left.

This road runs between meadows and some houses. It crosses an underpass of the road and continues towards a residential area, where it joins another road, turning to the right and then turning left again, in front of a house, to pass through a dirt road that flanks a pine plantation, on the left hand side of the road. After less than 150 meters it merges again with the national road, crossing to continue straight ahead along a narrow dirt path that soon joins a gravel track that, to the left, leads to a small river, which is crossed next to the old slaughterhouse building, currently converted into a pilgrims’ hostel.

You cross the river and go up a concrete path between houses, until you reach the national highway for the last time, already at the entrances to the town of A Caridá, capital of the El Franco council. As it passes through the town, the road is called Avenida de Galicia, continuing the Camino along it, to the left, along the sidewalk, between modern blocks of buildings and some older houses. You continue straight on, without taking any detour through the streets that open up on both sides, and you come to the María Cristina park, presided over by the modern building of the Town Hall and that of the parish church of San Miguel, the end point of the present stage.

All stages of The Coastal Way

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Asturies, camín al andar

Camino de Santiago in Asturias. Information on Jacobean routes in Asturias.

Xacobeo 21-22
Gobierno del Principáu d'Asturies. Conseyería de Cultura, Política Llingüística y Turismu

© 2021 Gobierno del Principado de Asturias

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