The Way

Our hostel is located in the small place of A Roxica, municipality of Friol, in the penultimate stage of the North Way before joining the French Way in the town of Arzúa.

The North Way is a route that runs along the Asturian coast and enters Galicia through the Ribadeo estuary. A route that achieved relevance in the late Middle Ages. At that time, maritime pilgrimages were at their peak and the Jubilee of the Holy Cross began to be celebrated in Oviedo.

Pilgrims at the end of the Middle Ages, eager to venerate relics and gain indulgences, visited Oviedo as a complement to their pious journey to Compostela.

The North Way maintained vitality until the 18th century. And it not only attracted Asturian pilgrims but also devotees from all over the north of the peninsula, and even - by land or sea - from other areas of Europe such as England, Flanders, Germany or Scandinavia. Many of the pilgrims arrived attracted by the relics of the sanctuary of San Salvador in Oviedo and, logically, by the Compostela cathedral.

It has been a route of illustrious pilgrims. It has been linked to San Francisco de Asís, who, according to tradition, made a pilgrimage to San Salvador de Oviedo and Santiago in the year 1214. At the end of the 15th century, the Armenian bishop Martyr would do so, both on the way there and back. from Azerbaijan. In the 16th century, Jacobo Sobieski, father of Juan III of Poland. And from the end of the 18th century we have the written testimony of the Frenchman Jean Pierre Racq.

In 2015, the North Way was recognized by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, the highest recognition that a cultural asset can receive. In addition to running through landscapes that are Biosphere Reserves, such as the surroundings of the Eo River or those known as Terras do Miño, among others.