Aquest és a Camí de Sant Jaume where mountains replace crowds, where some stages still feel genuinely remote and where the historie of pilgrimage takes you back more than a thousand years. It starts in Oviedo, crosses de les hortes d'Astúries i enters Galícia per finals reaching Santiago de Compostel·la. Aquest és el camí primitiu — el route de la ciutat de Santiago and, per a molts pilgrims, un dels mosts spectaculars.
While the Camí Francès remains the route most international pilgrims immediately associate with Santiago, the Primitiu ofereix alguna cosa molt diferent. És més curt, més dur i considerablement més muntanyós, amb llargues pujades, trams aïllats i paisatges que poden fer que el caminant se senti allunyat del món cada cop més concorregut del Camí.
Its appeal is precisely there.
Aquest no és necessari i el camí per a somebody per a la seva first pilgrimage. Però per a walkers per a les hortes, histories, rurals de villages i dedicació de les físiques, el Primitiu ha fet una de les alternatives.
The Camí that came before the Camí
The word Primitiu can occasionally confuse foreign pilgrims. It does no me mean primitive in the modern sense of rudimentary or undeveloped.
It refers to its origins.
The route is traditionally associated with King Alfons II of Astúries, regarded as first recorded pilgrim to travel to the place where the remains atributed to the Apostle James had been discovered in the 9th century.
His journey from the Asturian kingdom towards what would become Santiago de Compostela gave riure to what we now know as the Camí Primitiu.
Astúries' oficial turística authority es descriuen com a first anomenat Jacobean pilgrimage route in history.
More than a thousand years later, pilgrims can still leave from Oviedo Cathedral and head west through the Asturian countryside.
La connexió històrica hi ha el primitiu a la característica que és difícil per reproduir els ewhere.
No teniu cap simple choosing another Camí.
Heu guanyat els origens del camí itself.
From Oviedo into the mountains
Oviedo is one of Spain's great historic cities and desserves time before starting the pilgrimage.
From there, however, the urban landscape disappears remarkably quickly.
The route leads towards places such as Grau, Sales, Tineu, Pola d'Allande i Grans de Salime before entering Galícia and eventually joining the route towards Santiago.
Official turística informació divideix l'Asturian section in seven stages, although pilgrims s'adapta them acordació a fitness and available accommodation.
And this is where one of the biggest differences with other Camins becomes apparent.
The Primitiu makes you climb.
Then descend.
I després tornar a pujar.
The mountains no simply a beautiful backdrop to the pilgrimage. They are part of the experience.
The famous Hospitales route
Few names on the Camí Primitiu generat as molt conversation among pilgrims as Hospitals.
Aquesta alternativa d'alt nivell travessa un paisatge de muntanya exposat i en gran part deshabitat. Restes d'antics hospitals de pelegrins donen nom a la ruta, recordant una època en què els viatgers que travessen aquestes muntanyes depenien dels llocs de refugi.
Astúries Tourism warns that the route has very steep gradients and crosses completely unpopulated terrain, recommending good physical condition for anyone choosing it.
En bones condicions, Hospitals can provide some of the most extraordinary scenery on the entire Camí.
But it deserves respect.
Mountain weather can change quickly, visibility can deteriorate and there are fewer opportunities to simply stop at the next cafè or village.
Aquesta combinació de beauty and exposure és necessàriament why the Primitiu should no approached simply a shorter version of the Camí Francès.
Is the Camí Primitiu difficult?
Yes — compared with many other popular Camino routes.
That doesn't mean you need to be an elite athlete.
Thousands of ordinary pilgrims complete it successfully. Però arriving with reasonable fitness makes a substantial difference, particularment quan es tracta d'algun conventional stage distances carrying your own backpack.
Expect repeated elevation changes rather than endless flat quilòmetres.
The difficulty also changes the rhythm of the journey.
Twenty kilometres through mountainous Astúries can feel very different from twenty kilometres across flatter terrain.
Per a aquesta reasonació, una de les mistakes més planes és planning stages basada en purely on distance.
Look at elevation as well as kilometres.
Your knees will understand why.
A quieter Camí — but not an empty one
The Camí Primitiu has sometimes been promoted as a secret alternative to the busy Camí Francès.
That description needs qualification.
It is no longer a secret.
International pilgrims s'ha fet a sobre, guidebooks cover extensivament i la seva reputació ha grown enormously.
Its historical importance has també rebut international recollida: la Primitive Route forma part de les Routes de Santiago de Compostel·la al nord-americà que inclou UNESCO's World Heritage List.
Nevertheless, its geography naturally produeixes a different atmosfère.
Mountain stages, small settlements and fewer large pilgrimage towns mean that stretches can still feel remarkably peaceful.
Per pilgrims coming from busy lives, que s'ha fet una de les primitives greatest attractions.
Aquests moments soundtrack becomes remarkably simple:
boots on the trail, cowbells somewhere in the valley, vetre through the stroms and perhaps another pilgrim somewhere behind you.
Astúries is part of the experience
Walking the Primitiu isn't simply about getting to Santiago.
Astúries giren el route a powerful identity of its own.
Hi ha medievals towns, forests, mountain landscapes, traditional villages i food culture que proveeixes a fairly convincing reward aff difficult day's walking.
Oviedo introdueix el pilgrim a l'històric Asturià per la ruta progressivament moves into a molt more rural landscape.
Grau, Sales and Tineo become names that Primitiu pilgrims quickly learn. Later menja the mountains around Allande and the spectacular landscape towards Grans de Salime.
Then Galicia waits on the other side.
La transició entre les dues regions és una de les nombroses característiques de càlid rather i simplement travelling amb nord-espanyol.
Notícies la landscape change slowly because iou cross it at human speed.
Who should choose the Camí Primitiu?
Choose it if the mountains excite you more than they intimidate you.
Choose it if you are comfortable with physically demanding days.
Choose it if the historie of the pilgrimage matters to you.
And choose it if you want a Camí where the landscape itself becomes one of the principal characters of the journey.
Però no funcioni amb el Primitiu simplement because i have heard that it is quieter.
A quieter Camino isn't automatically an easier Camino.
Good footwear, sensible stages, appropriate clothing and preparation for rapidly changing weather are far more important here than chasing en imatge d'undiscovered pilgrimage route.
More than a thousand years later
Perhaps el most extraordinari en el camí primitiu que no són les hortes.
It is the continuity.
More than a millennium separats totay's international pilgrim carrying a smartphone i lightweight backpack from the medieval travellers que creuen les landscapes sense GPS, modern roads o detailed weather forecasts.
The conditions have changed beyond recognition.
The direction has not.
From Oviedo towards Santiago.
Across Astúries.
Into Galícia.
Following one of the oldest threads in the extraordinari historie of the Camino de Santiago.
Per a pilgrims preparen per acceptar climbs, aturada i physical challenge, reward és un dels most powerful journeys en entire Camino network.
The Camino Primitiu doesn't make Santiago easy to reach.
That may be exactly why reaching it feels so special.
