Gijón to Avilés
Distance covered: 15 miles / 25 km
This day of hiking passes through some semi-industrial areas outside of Gijón and features two steep, sustained hill climbs on the way to Avilés.
Though the hike wasn’t particularly difficult, the urban stretches made it feel quite long. Getting into and out of the city proved to be hectic, with heavy traffic and long stretches walking over paved surfaces. The experience would no doubt influence my decision to switch over to the more remote Camino Primitivo.
If this is the first post you’re reading and want to start from the beginning, check out my Camino del Norte page, which features all of my Camino posts in chronological order. If you want to learn more about the Camino de Santiago itself, check out my post breaking down the basics of the Camino de Santiago.
Waking up at the hostel in Gijón
I made myself a hot cup of instant coffee and ate a few crackers from the kitchen to get my day started. This simple meal served as my daily breakfast for much of my twenties and brought back tons of old memories. I would grab a proper meal out in the city but this enough to get me out the door.
After sleeping on simple albergue beds for three weeks, the foam mattress at the hostel was the most comfortable thing I had slept on in ages. I was invited to go out with some of the people staying in my hostel dorm, but after the long day of hiking, I was fast asleep by 9:30 p.m. I crashed almost instantly and woke up at around 7 a.m. the next day feeling refreshed.
Back in the room, I quietly gathered my things while the others slept and made it out the door by 7:45. I took some photos around town and then continued on my Camino.
Getting out of Gijón
Just like leaving any other major city, walking out of an urban area featured many long, paved roads and industrial infrastructure. Unfortunately since this route spans between two large cities, a lot of this hike was along busy streets.
One of the worst parts about walking along city roads is walking in the direct sunlight. The mornings hike offered little in the way of shade or scenery, and the heat was getting to me. If I flew in to Gijón to start the Camino del Norte , I would almost certainly skip this section and start in Avilés.
Meeting some Americans pilgrims
A few hours into the day I met two other American pilgrims who had started their Camino back in France. The two men were alone when I met them, but were hiking with their sons on a coming-of-age adventure. The men were brothers-in-law and they had each brought their eldest child on the trip.
Their sons were about to head off to college, and they had decided to tackle this pilgrimage before moving away. I slowed my pace slightly to chat with them, and ended up walking with them for a few hours. It was nice to connect with some compatriots and hear their stories. One man’s wife, and the other man’s sister, had recently lost her battle with cancer. This trip offered a chance to reconnect with family and create some more positive memories.
We swapped some trail-stories as we got to know each other which made the walking much more pleasant. One man was an Ivy league professor, and the other was a recently retired tech entrepreneur. Getting to know these pilgrims significantly improved my mood, and reminded me why I was doing this hike in the first place.
The last steep climb
After making our way along a few miles of paved road, we started the push upwards. The steep and steady climb felt particularly brutal after weeks of hiking. While it’s true that your body adjusts to the miles over time, I had lost some strength in my legs.
For the final push I wanted to hurry up to make sure I could find a bed at an albergue. We said our goodbyes and I wished them good luck on the rest of their hike. At this point I was still planning to continue along the Camino del Norte, but by the end of the day I wasn’t so sure anymore.
I sped up the final hill climb just wanting to get it over with. By the late afternoon I was making my way into the city, and my priority became finding a place to sleep.
Arriving to Avilés
I made it to the albergue público in Avilés by the early evening, soaked with sweat and excited to rinse off. I checked in and took a hot shower, glad to be done for the day. I rinsed my clothes by hand in the wash basin and hung them up before heading out for food.
I wandered into town to pick up some groceries and explored around Avilés. The town itself was nice, but I think the miles were finally getting to me. I was exhausted and needed a day to rest and recover some of my strength.
At the supermarket I picked up some food for dinner and some fruit for the next day. I ended up seeing some familiar faces in the kitchen at the albergue and we all ate together. We talked for an hour or so after eating and went to bed excited for a proper rest day. Whichever route I took, I definitely needed a day to recharge. Deciding to go check out Oviedo the next day, this would end up being my last day on the Camino del Norte.
Route details
For a detailed route description, take a look at the map on Gronze.com. On that website there is a route map and a comprehensive list of the places to stay along this section with rough price guides. The red and green bars signify the distance from the Camino route, each with a rough distance estimate.
The private albergues and hotels allow for booking ahead of time, while the donation-based albergues (marked with a D for donativo) are all first come, first served. The amenities are basic, but it’s by far the most affordable way to walk a Camino.
If you’re interested in reading the detailed route description, you’ll have to translate the page from Spanish to English, which you can do using the three vertical dots in the upper right of your browser.
Final thoughts
Though I didn’t know it at the time, I would ultimately switch over from the Camino del Norte to the Camino Primitivo. The post-pandemic travel surge was in full swing, and the bed race was becoming far too competitive. On average years when the flow of pilgrims is more steady, it may have been a different story. But rushing through each day instead of enjoying the experience was not how I wanted to do this hike.
The crowds of tourists along with the Camino del Norte traffic were just too much when combined. I didn’t enjoy scrambling to find a bed each night and not having alternatives available. Plus, I had heard that the Camino del Norte had a lot more paved roads after Avilés. My goal, in the end, was to hike from the French border to Santiago but not on any particular route. When I checked in at the albergue in Oviedo, the monk gave me a puzzled look. He eventually stamped my pilgrim passport, but I guess it’s not common to switch over mid-Camino.
If you’ve made it this far and you’re considering completing a Camino of your own, check out my post about solo travel on the Camino de Santiago. Drop a comment down below if you think the Camino del Norte would have been worth finishing, or if you’d prefer to hike a mixed route like I did. And as always, ¡Buen Camino!
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