Albergue closures in Asturias

Hi Deirdre
If they have closed any albergues in Asturia it must have happened during the last couple of weeks. I walked the Camino del Norte in June this year and I used the latest CSJ guide. As far as I remember, every albergue mentioned in the guide was still there this June -08. But if the Danish pilgrims showed you a photo of a recent newspaper headline from July I suppose it's possible that a few albergues are closed now.

As Laurie said, the Asturia stretch is from Unquera to Ribadeo. I stayed in the following places in June:
Llanes: In a private albergue, La Estacion (10 euros). There's also a youth hostel.
Ribadesella: In a hotel, but there's a youth hostel as well where some friends of mine stayed.
Sebrayo: Albergue, very basic and clearly neglected, but still OK. Very small village with no bar. No hospitaliero. I also saw an albergue in La Isla between Ribadesella and Sebrayo
Gijon: In a hotel. There's no albergue in the city. Nice city and well worth a stop.
Avilles: Big albergue with 60 beds. Very good and with a nice hospitaliero.
Soto de Lluna: Good albergue. The hospitaliero also owns the hotel and the bar so he's pretty much in charge of the whole village. I was also told about a youth hostel halfway between Avilles and Soto de Lluna (I think it was in Muros de Nalón).
Cadavedo: Albergue. I didn't stay there but I dropped by and visited some friends who had stoped there for the day. Small (8 beds) and not very good. Dirty.
Luarca: In a pension (Pension Moderna, recommended, cheap, clean and central). There was an albergue some 3-4 km before Luarca but I decided to stay in the town since it's a very nice place.
La Caridad: Albergue. The place was clearly neglected for long but still OK. I never met any hospitaliero.
The albergue in Tapia was still there in June. I didn't stay there because it's just 11 km from La Caridad so I continued to Ribadeo. But the place looked absolutely great.

As mentioned before some of the albergues (Sebrayo, Cadavedo, la Caridad) were clearly neglected and unattended so I wouldn't be very surprised if they decided to close them. But it would be a shame since the Asturian stretch is a great walk and other affordable accommodation can be hard to find during holiday times.
The waymarking is a bit poor in some parts of Asturia. I still managed without any serious problems, but I had to ask the locals a couple of times. I'm very happy I walked in Asturia because it's beautiful and I think that the peolpe who are taking the bus are missing something special.
When you get to Galicia, the waymarking and the albergues are excellent.

Buen Camino
Freddie

Hi Freddie:

Thank you for all the information. We are starting to walk the Camino del Norte in September and I have been watching for this kind of good information.

Anne
USA

Is there a private albergue in Irun or only the municipal refuge?

Was this the article? http://www.elcomerciodigital.com/aviles ... 80714.html
If so, your Danish friends are mistaken; it's only the Pineres one that's closed (confirmed by the Guipuzcoa Amigos site http://www.caminosnorte.org/costa/norttealbergues.htm )

There is also a youth hostel in Ribadesella http://www.albergueribadesella.com/

Hi. I'm cycling back on the Camino Norte now. When the Albergue in Ribadeo was full I rang the Albergue in La Caridad and was told it was closed for August.

Yesterday, after the Albergue Soto de Luina was full - and I knew it was too far for me to continue to Aviles - I started trying to get a pension or hostal but they were all full. I phoned all the ones in Muros and Soto del Barco and got the same answer that they were full. I then tried phoning the expensive hotels with the same answer. I am not carrying a tent so I was worried about what to do. I ended up sleeping in a very kind woman's shed. So finding accommodation at the moment is an issue if you don't have a tent - or are a cyclist as we need to wait until after 6pm anyway to see if there are any spaces.

So this morning I booked a pension in Gijon before starting cycling and right now I'm on the internet looking for accommodation for my stop tomorrow in Ribadesella - as I don't want to have the accommodation worry again.

It's a shame for me as what I loved about the Camino Frances (which I've just finished) is that I didn't have to plan ahead and could cycle 30km today and maybe 40-50km tomorrow depending on lots of things - but now I need to think ahead of time about what I will cycle and where I'm going to stay - so I can book accommodation. It may just be Astuarias though.

Before I started the Camino, I'd read the stories on the internet of people running on the Camino Frances to get accommodation - but it didn't seem to be a big issue last month. Maybe it's different in different years. I only heard a couple of stories of people not getting a space in a village they had planned on. Pamplona was a problem though as it was the Running of the Bulls/San Fermin and the municipal albergue closed down for 10 days during this time. So on the Camino Frances I never had to stay in a pension or hostal as there was always a place in an albergue. There was sometimes a choice of private albergues.

Cheers,
Rachael