Gijón to Avilés
Industrial beauty
- Distance
- 25.4 km
- Climb
- 320 m up, 315 m down
- Ground
- 0 to 180 m
- Time
- 6 to 7 hours
- Difficulty
- moderate
- Underfoot
- urban, paved, coastal, dirt
Where this day sits on the Camino del Norte
Above, the highest and lowest ground of each of its 34 stages. Below, the word each day is given.
From open-pilgrimages: each stage's highest and lowest ground and its interior theme.
The day
The walk from Gijón to Avilés goes through heavy industry — Arcelor-Mittal steelworks, the Aboño coal-fired power station, the port of El Musel. It is the hardest stretch of the Norte to love on first sight. And then you arrive in Avilés and the contrast is total: the old town is a medieval gem with arcaded streets, a Gothic church (San Nicolás), and the Palacio de Camposagrado. Oscar Niemeyer's bright-white cultural centre (Centro Niemeyer, 2011) sits across the ría — the great Brazilian architect's only work in Spain, commissioned when he was 99.
What pilgrims often meet here
- The steelworks and power plant — unusual pilgrimage scenery
- The moment of surprise on entering Avilés old town
- The Niemeyer Centre across the Ría — bright white, curved, obviously Brazilian
- Understanding that the Camino passes through working places, not just beautiful ones
Industrial beauty is a difficult phrase. Is it a contradiction or a reality?
The ground
An industrial day. Leaves Gijón along the beach and climbs around the Aboño and Arcelor-Mittal steel plants (a gritty but fascinating stretch through Asturian industrial landscape), passes Piedras Blancas, and drops to Avilés. Avilés has one of the most perfectly preserved medieval old towns in northern Spain, sitting in an unpromising industrial setting.
The light
Sunrise and sunset in Gijón depend on the day you walk.
Walk it with Pilgrim
In Pilgrim's Honor mode you can walk this stage as it is drawn here, and save its maps for days with no signal. The morning opens with this day's word, Industrial beauty, and its story. When you arrive, it asks the question above, and you can answer out loud. Your walk stays on your phone.
With Pilgrim on your phone, this opens the stage, ready to begin. Without it, you'll see the stage and where to get the app.