A shorter day with one long way down: a steep road climb past La Mesa to a ridge of wind turbines, then about 2,700 ft of descent over 5 miles to the Salime dam, and a 4-mile road climb to Grandas. There is nothing for 6.5 miles between La Mesa and Hotel Las Grandas, just past the dam, so carry water and food. Grandas has seven places to stay, three of them albergues, and an ethnographic museum worth a visit.
Steep road climb out of La MesaAbout 2,700 ft down to the Salime damNothing for 6.5 miles after La MesaEthnographic museum in Grandas
Distance
12.7 miles20.4 km
Climbing
2,180 ft up3,340 ft down
High point
3,410 ftLow point 690 ft
Walking time
5 to 6 hours
Difficulty
Moderate
Beds in Grandas de Salime
7 placesFew
Map of the stage
Places to stay in Grandas de Salime
Nearby, if Grandas de Salime is full
Look out for
The walk12Places to stay: green for dorms, blue for rooms3Other places to stayASightsVillages on the wayDashed ring: position approximate
The line is the waymarked route as OpenStreetMap has it, except between Buspol and the Salime dam, where OpenStreetMap doesn't have the route: there the line is the shortest footpath, which may not follow the waymarks. Places to stay are where Gronze or their own websites put them. Tap a marker for details; the numbers and letters match the cards and the lists below.
Where to sleep in Grandas de Salime
7 places · Few
Three albergues with 70 dorm beds, and four places with private rooms or apartments, including Hotel A Reigada, the only one that says it's open all year. The municipal albergue closes for one winter month, and the two private albergues close in October.
Public albergue · dormPilgrims only
Albergue de peregrinos de Grandas de Salime
The municipal albergue, opened in 2011, with a kitchen, washer and dryer and a garden. Cheap, but first come, first served.
Beds
28 dorm beds in bunks, in three dorms
Price
Dorm €10
Season
All year except one winter month, which varies
Where
110 yards from the centre, Avenida de la Costa 20
Meals
Kitchen, microwave and fridge; no meals. Washer and dryer; disposable sheets; lockers; blankets
Booking
No reservations: first come, first served. Check-in from 12:30
Moderate12.7 miles and about 2,175 ft of climbing, mostly in two road climbs, but the 2,700 ft descent to the dam is long and hard on the knees.
Guides' own ratings: Gronze: 3; Eroski (La Mesa to Grandas de Salime): media
Underfoot. Concrete and earth tracks to La Mesa, a mile of steep tarmac to the turbines, earth and stone tracks and forest paths down to the dam, then about 3 miles on the AS-14 road.
Leave Berducedo uphill on a concrete track, then follow a flatter earth track and a quiet local road down to La Mesa at 2.7 miles. From there a tarmac road climbs about 575 ft in a mile, at an average of about 11 percent, to a ridge lined with wind turbines and wide views. Past the chapel at Buspol the long descent to the Salime reservoir begins: about 2,700 ft down over 5 miles, first on a broad earth and stone track in long zigzags, then on a mostly level forest track, and finally on a zigzagging forest path to the road. Cross the top of the dam at 8.7 miles and climb on the AS-14 past Hotel Las Grandas, half a mile beyond. The road climbs steadily for about 4 miles to Grandas de Salime; about 1.2 miles before the town a path on the left takes you off the road for 0.9 miles, no longer but much pleasanter.
Good to know
Carry water and food: there is nothing for 6.5 miles between La Mesa and Hotel Las Grandas, and Eroski warns the first bar is past the reservoir.
Buy food in Berducedo; La Mesa has only the albergue's bar-restaurant.
Walking poles help on the 5-mile descent, which Eroski calls easy on the lungs but hard on the thighs.
The climb from the dam is on the AS-14 road; keep to the edge and take the signed path on the left about 1.2 miles before town.
Hotel Las Grandas, the only bar between La Mesa and Grandas, is open only from 5 April to 31 October (Gronze, 2026).
The Grandas municipal albergue takes no reservations and opens at 12:30; it closes for one winter month, and the private albergues close in October.
Buy Oscos cheese, chorizo and lacón at Carnicería Naveiras, and mantecadas, the local sweet, at the Casariego bakery.
If Grandas is full, Albergue de Castro is 3.2 miles on, with a bar-cafeteria.
Along the way
Start
Berducedo
Albergues, bar-restaurant and a shop (El Cafetín); the last shop before Grandas
Mile 2.7
La Mesa
Albergue Miguelín with a bar-restaurant; no shop
Mile 9.2
Vistalegre
Hotel Las Grandas: rooms, a small dorm and a bar-restaurant, 5 April to 31 October; the first bar after La Mesa
Mile 12.7
Grandas de Salime
All services: shops, bars, restaurants, seven places to stay
The dam across the Navia was built between 1948 and 1953 by Saltos del Navia, a company formed by Hidroeléctrica del Cantábrico and Electra de Viesgo. It is a concrete gravity dam 420 ft high; more than 3,500 workers, most from Andalusia, lived in four camps built for them, and between 100 and 300 died. The reservoir began filling in September 1953 and the plant was formally opened in 1955, though many sources give 1954. The architect Joaquín Vaquero Palacios worked on the project, and his son Joaquín Vaquero Turcios designed the murals in the power station and the Boca de la Ballena viewpoint.
The drowned village of Salime
The reservoir flooded about 1,700 acres of the valley's best farmland, including the village of Salime, nearly 2,000 plots, churches, chapels, cemeteries and bridges. Roads were cut and ferries ran across the water for a time; the old road was replaced by the AS-14, which the Camino now follows over the dam. Images from Salime's church were moved to the church in Grandas, and when the water is low the remains of the old village can still be seen. The loss of land fed an exodus: the council had 3,785 people in 1952 and 779 in 2024.
San Salvador de Grandas
The parish church, often called the Colegiata, has 12th-century origins, but most of what stands is an 18th-century rebuilding. A Romanesque doorway with four round arches survives inside, along with a Romanesque font, and a porch of stone arches runs all the way round the nave. The main altarpiece is 17th-century.
The Ethnographic Museum
José María Naveiras Escanlar, known as Pepe el Ferreiro, founded it in 1984 from his own collection, and since 1989 it has been in the old rectory, built in 1814. It now covers about 34,000 sq ft and holds more than 11,000 objects from rural life in western Asturias, including a furnished farmhouse, a mill and an hórreo granary. Gronze calls it one of the most visited museums in Asturias.
Look out for
Mile 2.7
La Mesa church. The church of Santa María Magdalena at La Mesa dates from the late 17th century.
Mile 3.7
The turbine ridge. At the top of the climb from La Mesa, among the wind turbines at about 3,400 ft, the views open out; Gronze calls them magnificent.
Mile 4.2
Santa Marina at Buspol. An austere stone and slate chapel that may have belonged to a pilgrim hospital; you can see the altarpiece through the door. The long descent starts here.
Mile 7.0
Bear-proof beehives. On the way down Eroski points out a walled enclosure built to keep bears out of the beehives.
Mile 8.7
The dam and the Boca de la Ballena. The route crosses the top of the 420 ft dam. The Boca de la Ballena, a viewpoint hanging over the dam, looks down its face.
Mile 11.5
Path off the road. Take the path on the left for 0.9 miles: the same distance as the road but through woods.
Mile 12.7
Grandas de Salime. The Ethnographic Museum and the porched church of San Salvador are both in the centre.
What couldn't be confirmed, and where sources disagree
Hotel A Reigada: its website gives a second number for the hotel, +34 699 691 640, and [email protected] for the restaurant.
Restrepo Alojamientos: Gronze calls it a pensión and labels its photo Hotel La Barra, perhaps an older business at the same address. Restrepo's own website gives no prices, phone or email, and its contact page wouldn't load, so the price and phone come from Gronze.
Hostal Occidente: no website, email or Booking.com page was found. The Grandas council map shows Hostal Bar Occidente opposite the church, so the bar and the rooms appear to be one business; Gronze gives the address as Calle Antonio Machado.
Municipal albergue: Gronze doesn't say which winter month it closes, and the website it lists is the council's.
Online booking: no Booking.com pages were found for the albergues, Restrepo Alojamientos or Apartamentos Casa Sánchez.
Castro: Gronze also lists Casa Rural Ferreiro (doubles €60 to €90) and Casa Chao San Martín (single €50, double €70).
High and low points: no source gives an exact height for the summit. The figures used, about 3,410 ft and 690 ft, are Gronze's for the top and bottom of the long descent.
Distances: Eroski gives La Mesa to Grandas as 10.4 miles, Gronze 9.9 miles. Eroski puts Hotel Las Grandas 9.6 miles into the stage; Gronze puts it 875 yards past the dam, at 9.2 miles. Eroski says about 2.8 miles of the walk is on the AS-14.
Salime dam: the dates differ. Spanish Wikipedia's article on the reservoir says it was built from 1948 to 1953, began filling in September 1953 and was formally opened on 24 August 1955. English Wikipedia, Spanish Wikipedia's article on Grandas and Escapada Rural give 1954; Eroski gives both 1953 and 1954. Most sources give the height as 420 ft, some as 430 ft above the foundations, and English Wikipedia's infobox as 410 ft. Spanish Wikipedia says 1,995 plots were flooded, English Wikipedia 1,955.
Village of Salime: the drowned village, the images moved to Grandas and the ruins seen at low water come only from viajecaminodesantiago.com; Wikipedia doesn't name the village.
Museum: Spanish Wikipedia's article on the museum says it was founded in 1984, and its article on Grandas says 1986. It has been in the rectory since 1989. Its opening hours couldn't be found.
Confirmed October 2026. Each place to stay shows when its own details were confirmed. Phone numbers, prices and opening seasons change from year to year, so confirm them before you rely on them.