The Original Way
Stage 8: Berducedo - Grandas de Salime
20.08 kilometer stage that runs through the councils of Allande, Grandas de Salime and, for a few meters, through Pesoz. Half of the route is done on asphalt, especially in the second half of the stage, while the rest is covered by dirt and gravel paths.
The itinerary starts from the town of Berducedo, arriving shortly at the town of A Mesa, already in the council of Grandas de Salime, after which a route begins along paths and dirt tracks, making a first steep ascent just after passing this second town, entering the path, after leaving behind the small Buspol chapel, through the extensive natural environment that borders the Grandas de Salime reservoir, the great scenic landmark of the stage. For many kilometers it runs between plantations of pines and other species, with spectacular views of the reservoir and the Grandas de Salime waterfall, through which it will come to pass after a long descent of about eight kilometers in duration, at some points very intense , so much so that it became famous in the Middle Ages for its dangerousness, being many legends and stories that focused on this hard transit, which had one of its elements in the Ponte de Salime (currently under the waters of the reservoir) more significant. Once past the reservoir, a stretched ascent of more than five kilometers begins to the capital of Grandas de Salime, the town of the same name, circulating for the most part along the shoulder of the AS-14 regional road.
This is a stage in which you hardly go through towns, except for those mentioned above, with which the absolute predominance is the landscape and the Grandas de Salime reservoir, under which lie the remains of the old town of Salime. The towns of Berducedo, A Mesa, the hamlet of Buspol and the town of Grandas de Salime, maintain good examples of southwestern Asturian architecture, with constructions based on…. and covered with slate. The best examples of cultural heritage can be found in the churches of these towns, highlighting the collegiate church of San Salvador de Grandas de Salime, at the end of the route. Before that, you will pass one of the most significant examples of the industrial heritage of Asturias, the Salime waterfall.
References to the passage of pilgrims on this itinerary are abundant since the Middle Ages. In Buspol the chapel linked to the old pilgrim hospital is still preserved, documented in modern times as a house-hostel that had its roots in the Middle Ages, just like the one that existed in the town, today flooded by the reservoir, of Salime. There was also a hospital in the town of Grandas de Salime, mentioned in the 16th century documentation but undoubtedly from a previous foundation, located near the current ethnographic museum, at the entrance of the town, its building still being preserved.
Stage monuments
Stage locations
Stage description
Start of the stage next to the church of Santa María de Berducedo. Leave this monument behind, located next to a very old yew tree, passing by a sacramental altar, and then, in front of a house, turn right, along a paved track that runs between houses. Soon you will come to a new crossroads where you must take the path that runs to the left, going up between more houses, until you leave the last one behind in a sharp curve to the left, which leads to an area of meadows, with good views to the left of Berducedo. After one hundred meters, the route approaches several cattle sheds, after which, it continues to the right, along a gravel track that runs between the enclosures of plots based on sebe of scrub.?
After another hundred meters, take a detour to the left, ascending along a dirt path, with parts where the surface is formed by the bedrock itself, between meadows and bushes, continuing 250 meters later to the right, at another fork of roads, to finally arrive (after another crossroads where you continue straight ahead, on the right) to a forest track that descends next to a pine forest. You continue through this environment for more than a kilometer, without taking any detour of those that appear on the left, and arriving, after a journey of 1,100 meters, to the local road ¿?, Along whose shoulder you continue, towards the left, soon leaving, in the first curve that appears, a laundry room on the left.
We continue along the road, first between pine trees and then between meadows and wide views of the valleys of El Carballín and Texedón, for two kilometers, continuing downhill, drawing several hairpin bends, in another of which there is another washhouse .
After those two kilometers, you will reach the town of A Mesa, the first town in the council of Grandas de Salime that is on the Camino Primitivo route.
- Related item: A Mesa
After passing the first houses, you access a sidewalk parallel to the road, turning to the right at the curve leading to the town, from where a detour that leads to the town of Paradas starts to the left. After this curve, you will soon come to the church of Santa María Magdalena.
- Related item: Iglesia de Santa María Magdalena
After the church, continue straight ahead, without taking any detour, until you reach the old school building, converted into a pilgrim hostel. This building is flanked, taking the local road ¿?, Which begins at this point a steep ascent through the Peña de los Coriscos that will lead to the path that runs behind the A Mesa wind farm.
Shortly after taking the road, a detour appears to the right, towards La Figuerina, which is not taken, continuing the ascent for more than 1,200 meters of travel, until arriving, after a very sharp curve to the left, to the back from the wind farm, in an area of scrubland and cattle pastures.
We continue along the road in a long straight, leaving behind a detour to the right, and starting after a curve to the right that follows, the descent towards the Navia river. After that curve, you will come to a crossroads, and you must continue straight ahead, along the same road, which will be abandoned 150 later, at the beginning of a very tight curve to the left. At this point you must continue straight on along a dirt track, near the small town of Buspol. You descend along this track, between stone walls, passing shortly afterwards the road surface to be made of slate slabs, which in the part immediately before reaching the houses of the town, becomes a paving system based on of slate slabs, under which a channel of water of great interest is formed.
- Related item: Buspol
You pass by the Buspol buildings and immediately afterwards, to the Chapel of Santa Marina, linked to the old pilgrims’ hospital existing at this point, of which the bell is preserved, now in the bell tower of the chapel, dating from the fourteenth century . From the chapel you can contemplate a beautiful panoramic view of the Navia river valley.
- Related item: Hospital de peregrinos
- Related item: Capilla de Santa Marina
After the chapel, continue along a narrow dirt path, delimited on the right by a dry stone wall and on the left by slabs of slate, until reaching a porthole, which is passed, to then run in the middle of a meadow of cattle pasture, turning immediately to the left the road and initiating a marked descent towards the Navia river.
You descend along a narrow path of earth and stone, barely marked on the ground, surrounded by scrub, gorse and with excellent views of the Navia valley, with the town of Grandas de Salime in the background and, behind it, the Alto del Acebo.
After about 700 meters of descent, and several sharp turns, you come to a pine plantation area, joining a wide forest track that continues to the left, descending.
This route along the forest track is made in a zigzag way, with large straights that are followed by sharp curves, always through the interior of a pine forest. After about two kilometers, you come to a fork in the road. Towards the left we continue towards an old jetty, on the banks of the Grandas de Salime reservoir and several ruins of buildings that were part of the old town of Salime, today flooded under water, a point from which on certain occasions it is still possible to take a boat that crosses it and leads to the other shore, to continue from there the route to the capital of Granada. Since it is not always possible to have this service, the description of the route continues taking the path to the right, in the direction of the Grandas de Salime waterfall.
The path continues along the forest path, with areas in which it is delimited by a strong slope carved into the rock, always among pine trees and with good views of the Grandas de Salime reservoir. After approximately 1.8 kilometers, and after passing (again in the territory of the Allande council) through a firebreak through which a power line from the Salime waterfall circulates, under which it passes, the track is left to take a detour to the left, which leads to a narrow dirt path that zigzags through a section of chestnut forest and which, after a steep descent of just under a kilometer, ends up merging into the AS-14 regional road, along whose shoulder is continue to the left.
After 300 meters you will arrive at the Ballena viewpoint, on the Salto de Salime, on the right hand side of the Camino. From it, spectacular panoramic views of the reservoir dam and its auxiliary facilities are obtained, among which the artistic integration work by Vaquero Turcios ?? stands out.
- Related item: Mirador de la Ballena
Leaving the viewpoint behind, you reach the dam after another 300 meters, on the border between the councils of Allande, Grandas de Salime and Pesoz, crossing it by means of the sidewalks arranged on both sides of the road. In front, on the hillside that is arranged on the right hand side according to the direction of the path, there are the remains of old facilities linked to the construction process of the reservoir, as well as the town of A Paiciega, where the workers who stayed between 1945 and 1955 they built this great work of engineering. To the left of the Camino, it is possible to contemplate, from the viewpoints of the dam, the reservoir.
- Related item: Salto de Salime
- Related item: Poblado de A Paiciega
After the reservoir, continue along the AS-14 road, already in the territory of the council of Grandas de Salime, in continuous ascent. At some points you can go along a narrow dirt path parallel to the road, being in other places it is necessary to do it along its shoulder. Several buildings are left behind in the Vistalegre place and a viewpoint over the reservoir and the waterfall, arriving after almost four kilometers of travel, and just after passing an almost complete curve, at a crossroads in the place of El Marco, to which the Jacobean route arrives from the pier of the reservoir in Salime.
Continue on the road for about 200 meters and then take a detour to the left, along a dirt track that first ascends in the opposite direction to the direction of travel that was maintained on the road and then takes a sharp curve and Return to circulate parallel to the road, at a higher altitude, along the slope of Mount Coto de Grandas de Salime.
Continue along a narrow dirt path, sometimes paved, between numerous pine, oak, beech and chestnut trees, the path being at certain points delimited by stone walls or slabs of driven slate. After a little less than 1.5 kilometers, this track leads to the first houses in the town of Grandas de Salime, passing the firm to be concreted. You go down to the AS-14 road and cross it, going straight ahead. Pass a covered laundry on the left and shortly afterwards turn left, arriving at Avenida del Ferreiro, which will run between houses of one and two floors and passing by the Ethnographic Museum of Grandas de Salime, located in the old rectory house from the capital of Granada.
- Related item: Museo Etnográfico
- Related item: Colegiata de San Salvador
After leaving the museum behind, the ascent continues along Avenida del Ferreiro, arriving after about 140 meters at the central space of the capital, formed by the town hall building and the San Salvador collegiate church, this being the end point of the present stage.
- Related item: Ayuntamiento
- Related item: Grandas de Salime
