Berducedo

How long to stay?

An afternoon is enough. You arrive tired, after a long day without a village. Berducedo has a church, a yew tree, a bar and a shop, which is everything you need today. Tomorrow you set off early, down to the Salime reservoir.

Berducedo in Ninja numbers

• 108.3 kilometres lie behind you since Oviedo, the last 27.5 from Campiello over the Hospitales route.
• 200.4 kilometres are left to Santiago de Compostela. From tomorrow the number starts with a one.
• 1,216 metres was the highest point of the day, at kilometre 93.3. Berducedo sits at 899.
• 1785 is when Berducedo's old pilgrim hospice was rebuilt. 1980 is when its last walls disappeared.

Arriving: from the mountain into the village

If you come over the Hospitales, you have walked about 23 kilometres across the heights since Samblismo, without a shop or a bar. At the Puerto del Palo the Hospitales route and the path from Pola de Allande meet again. After that you continue via Montefurado and Lago, staying high, until the roofs of Berducedo appear. The public hostel stands right at the entrance to the village, directly on the path.

In brief: a village that had to look after pilgrims

People lived here before the Romans; the best-known find is a Celtic gold earring, the Arracada de Berducedo. By the 13th century at the latest the village had a pilgrim hospice, founded by the lords of Neira de Xusá. It offered food and a bed, its bathing water was considered healing, and it also took in lepers; a field name, La Rigueira dos Melatos, recalls them. Tradition has it that the villagers had to give pilgrims salt, vinegar and fodder for their pack animals. In 1785 the hospice was rebuilt, and in 1980 its last remains disappeared. A few stones in the shape of a window still stand in a garden.

Church and yew: what to see

There isn't much, and everything is on the path or by the church.

• Iglesia de Santa María: The single-nave church dates from the 14th or 15th century, with a porch on the west side and a bell gable from the 19th century. It had 14th-century frescoes, which were lost during a renovation in 1910. It is considered a witness to the Way of St James tradition on the Primitivo. We have not found opening hours.
• The yew beside the church: In Asturias, yews are regarded as sacred trees from pre-Christian times. Under this one the neighbours' assembly, the "conceyo abierto", used to meet and decide the village's affairs.
• Corpus Christi altar and washhouse: By the path stands a stone altar for the Corpus Christi procession, and near the church an old washhouse.

Honestly

• After the Hospitales route the village can be full. Pilgrims report late arrivals who found no bed. Many places to stay are not on booking platforms; write to them directly.
• In winter only the public hostel remains. The private houses close at the end of October, and the public one does not take reservations.
• No cash machine, no pharmacy. A doctor holds surgery on weekday mornings.
• It's no more than a stroll. Berducedo is a mountain village; if you're looking for sights, you'll find them in Grandas.

Where pilgrims sleep

• Albergue de peregrinos de Berducedo: the municipality's public hostel at the entrance to the village, opened in 2007 and fully renovated in 2024. Open all year from 12:00, no reservations, credencial required, fully equipped kitchen with fridge. The price is between €8 and €10 (as of October 2026); the sources differ.
• Albergue Camino Primitivo: private, from 1 March to 31 October.
• Albergue Casa Marqués: private, with a bar, from 1 April to 31 October.
• Casa de Aldea Araceli: rooms rather than a dormitory; guests who book can get a hearty dinner on request.

On 3 November 2024, according to a pilgrim's report, only the public hostel was still open.

Ninja tips

• Buy breakfast and food for the day at the shop. We have not found another documented shop between here and Grandas.
• Spare your knees. Tomorrow you go down from 1,041 metres to 208 metres at the river. Poles help.

Practical tips for pilgrims

• Shopping: A shop, a butcher, a baker and a bar in the village.
• Money: No cash machine. Bring enough cash.
• Health: Doctor's surgery on weekday mornings, no pharmacy.
• Bus: Berducedo is on the Grandas de Salime–Tineo bus line.
• Festival: Santa Isabel on the first weekend of July.

Onward: down to the reservoir

After Berducedo the path climbs once more via La Mesa (km 112.7) to 1,041 metres at kilometre 114.1. Then it drops long and steeply to the Río Navia, which is dammed here to form the Salime reservoir. At kilometre 122.2 you are at 208 metres, the lowest point far and wide. After that it climbs again to Grandas de Salime, 20.0 kilometres from Berducedo.

What awaits you tomorrow

Grandas de Salime, the last town of the Primitivo in Asturias. Its church keeps figures from a church that now lies beneath the reservoir.

Deep dive: The houses on the way

A short read, in case you want to learn more about Berducedo. About three minutes' reading.

Hospices in the heights

If you came over the Hospitales today, you walked past their remains. Paradiella is named in documents from the fifteenth century. In Fonfaraón there were two hospices in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, and one of them was still working, after a fashion, at the beginning of the twentieth century. Its walls now serve as a shelter for cattle. Valparaíso already existed in the fourteenth century. And in Montefurado, in Lago and in Berducedo there were houses for pilgrims too.

What a hospice was then

A hospice on the Way of St James was not a hospital in today's sense. It offered food and rest. In Berducedo there was also a bath whose water was considered healing, and room for lepers. Tradition also says the whole village helped: the inhabitants had to give salt, vinegar and fodder for the animals.

From hospice to hostel

In 1785 the hospice of Berducedo was rebuilt once more. When it had its last guests, we have not been able to find out. In 1980 its last walls disappeared. Twenty-seven years later, in 2007, the municipality opened a new hostel at the entrance to the village. When this text was written, in autumn 2026, pilgrims were sleeping there again, having come over the same mountain.

What Berducedo gives you

Today you spent a whole day finding out why these houses existed. Up there, no one gave you water. Down here, someone does. Eight hundred years ago it was no different.