Stage from Sebrayo to Gijon / Link to Oviedo and Camino Primitivo

Information about stage 20: Stage from Sebrayo to Gijón / Link to Oviedo and Camino Primitivo

Itinerary

From Sebrayo, this small town, which has given us a bed, we take the local road and after about 12 minutes, under the bridge of the Cantábrico Highway, we turn right onto a track. We resume again on asphalt and go down a path where we can check the effectiveness of our Gore-Tex. There is usually a lot of mud and water. Then we continue along a track, separated from the road by a wire fence, until we cross the bridge over the highway. Later on we come out onto the N-632 straight ahead, we enter Villaviciosa, a landmark town settled on a wide 8-kilometre estuary and known for the quality of its cider. The entrance straight to the town is long and heavy and once in the urban area you have to go out onto the Infiesto road, the AS-255. We left it for a few moments to take advantage of the shelter offered by the Alameda Park and the Linares riverbed . The AS-255 finally leaves to the right next to the La Regatina bar and we come to a hermitage to cross the stone bridge of San Juan. We pass the neighborhood of La Parra and along the VV-10 we reach the village of Casquita , in the parish of Grases. Here, a worn marker with two scallops indicates the detour to Oviedo or the continuation to Gijón . Those who choose Oviedo will continue to Santiago along the paths of the Camino Primitivo, through the interior of Asturias and Lugo capital to join the French Way in Melide. For those who decide on this interesting option, the itinerary is as follows: Casquita , Camoca de Abajo , Camoca and San Pedro de Ambás . From here you can choose between continuing along the official Path or continuing through the Cistercian monastery of Valdediós (with reception from the Archbishopric of Oviedo). Both alternatives come together at Alto de la Campa to go down to Vega de Sariego , with a 16-bed pilgrim hostel . From Sebrayo to Vega de Sariego there are 24 kilometers. The second day, until Oviedo, the route goes towards Pola de Siero ( with a hostel for pilgrims). In this section from Vega de Sariego to Pola they have enabled an alternative route without road traffic that avoids the entire stretch of road. There is no loss from the Vega hostel, and the itinerary goes through El Castro , Aveno , Hermitage of the Virgin of Bienvendida , Puente de Recuna and Pola de Siero . From Siero, it continues through El Berrón , Fonciello , Palacio de Meres , San Pedro de Granda , Colloto , the neighborhood of Cerdeño and Oviedo. Between Vega de Sariego and Oviedo there are 27 kilometers. Towards Gijón, we continue straight ahead along the Camino de la Costa. In one kilometer we arrive at Grases de Abajo and in another one we reach Niévares, already on the VV-9. Thus begin more than three kilometers of hard ascent on tracks and roads, saving more than 300 meters of unevenness, which lead to Alto de la Cruz. You have to take the ascent calmly because some sections are really hard. From the top, with views of the Peón valley, you have to go down the road to this town. There is a path on the left that takes a short cut, although it is probably not very careful. In Peón we pass next to the church of Santiago , a popular construction restored in 1929. The journey continues along the AS-331 highway, although after a few hundred meters we change it to paths and tracks that ascend to the top of Curbiello , second and last of the stage, which we crown again on the AS-331. From there everything is descent to the city of Gijón, which we can already see. On the way down to Curbiello we leave the provincial road for a path that goes off to the right. Later, we will pass over the highway and with this road-path game we will continue to the Deva campsite, where the pilgrims’ hostel is located. Since June 2012 the Camping has a bus connection that leads to the Center. Now through a residential area we will arrive atCabueñes , the prelude to a Gijón that we will access next to the Piles river.

Difficulties

• Alto de la Cruz

  There have not been such slopes since the stages in the Basque Country. From Grases de Abajo the road begins to climb, albeit slightly, but it is from Niévares that the slope is more pronounced.

Observations

Today we come across the most important fork in the Northern road, it is after Villaviciosa, in Casquita, and there we will have to decide whether to continue to Gijón or take the road that goes to Oviedo. There is also a signposted path from Oviedo, if that option is chosen, to Avilés and thus return to the North path passing through the Asturian capital and visiting San Salvador.Unfortunately Gijón does not have an exclusive hostel for pilgrims, although there is a wide variety of hotel offer in addition to the one exposed in the hostels section, we highlight some private hostel such as the Boogalow Hostel, telephone 984 51 38 37 or the Hostel Gijón Centro, telephone 657 02 92 42. Also at a reasonable price we have the Pensión Albor telephone 622 66 38 55 or the Pensión Vegadeo telephone 985 32 80 42. Remember that it is always advisable to book in advance.

What to see, what to do

Gijon is a great city. The impetuous Cantabrian Sea that embraces the city has marked its history for more than 5,000 years.Gijón keeps its Roman past alive through the interventions carried out in the Campa de Torres Archaeological Park, one of the main fortified towns in northern Spain (before 490 BC) and, above all, in the recovered Campo thermal complex. Valdés, a public building dating from the late s. I ADIt keeps Romanesque examples such as the Church of San Andrés de Ceares, the Church of San Juan Bautista, the Church of San Juan Evangelista or the Church of Santa María Magdalena: Various sources indicate the existence in this place, in 1331, of a leprosarium, of which Possibly this temple was part of it, although, obviously, its foundation is earlier. Today it appears so disfigured that of its Romanesque origin there is little more than the layout, with a single nave and a square header, without any decorative element. However, it is well worth a visit due to its splendid location on top of a hill, from which you can enjoy a great panoramic view of the Gijón countryside. In the 17th century, a great construction activity took place that was to definitively shape the urban aspect of Gijón. The following century witnesses successive improvements that give it the status of a large town. Of vital importance are the contributions made at this time by the enlightened Gaspar Melchor de Jovellanos, whose proposals continued in force in subsequent centuries.

• Jovellanos Royal Institute

  The first stone of this magnificent building, an Asset of Cultural Interest since 1974, was laid by Jovellanos himself, who did not see the works of his Royal Asturian Institute completed. The current building responds to two construction phases, the first of which was carried out between 1797-1807 with traces by Juan de Villanueva and corresponds to the ground floor. The second, 1887-92, consisted of raising two floors above the original one. The cubic building is organized around a porticoed central patio, on one of whose sides stands out a neoclassical fountain. The sober façade, with padding on the floor corresponding to the primitive construction, has a doorway with a semicircular arch. It is currently the Old Institute Culture Center, belonging to the Gijón City Council.

The industrialization process that Gijón is undergoing in these centuries is accompanied by an important constructive development that leaves examples of current architectural styles in the city. Eclectic, modernist, historicist, art deco, rationalist buildings… occupy the streets of Gijón.

• Highlights:

  • Town Hall

    It is a cubic block with three floors located in an unfinished porticoed square by one of its bays.

  • Mercado del Sur

    With an irregular pentagonal floor plan, it has a metal structure with cast iron columns without any stylistic reference.

  • Jovellanos Theatre

    Together with the houses that surround it, it is framed in an eclectic-historicist style. Two parts can be distinguished in the composition: an arcade of pilasters decorated with allegorical trophies that extend over the entire surface up to the height of the lateral bodies, and an upper floor as a finish off which opens a gallery that supports a wide molded cornice.