Spain Travel - Asturias: Hiking to the La Molina River

• published: 17 Nov 2010
• views: 527

May 28, 2010 began with a nice breakfast overlooking the town of Cangas de Onís, a pretty town of about 6700 people that is embedded in the Picos de Europa region in the northern Spanish province of Asturias. I was staying at the Hotel La Cepada whose elevated location on a hillside provides amazing views over the town below. The weather had cleared up since yesterday and fortunately the rain had stopped. Just after 9 am my local expert guide, Juan Feliz, came to pick me up. Juan runs a local outdoor adventure company called www.fronteraverde.com. Recommended by Turismo Asturias, he was the perfect guy to introduce me to the Picos de Europa, the limestone mountain chain that runs along northern Spain. We began with a walk through the town of Cangas de Onís, which was the capital of the Kingdom of Asturias until 774 AD. In nearby Covadonga, Christian forces under Don Pelayo won a critical battle over the Moors, which triggered the start of the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of Spain from its Muslim invaders. Our first major sight as we walked into town was the "Puente Romano", the Roman bridge over the Sella River, which actually was built during medieval times. We had now reached the main square of Cangas which is anchored by an attractive church and a big statue of Don Pelayo, the local hero who defeated the Moors. Juan also took advantage of our walk to introduce me to some of the gastronomic specialties of Asturias. We walked into an attractive store called "La Barata" that carries a variety of typical Asturian food items. After our explorations in Cangas Juan and I drove up into the mountains where we parked the vehicle and walked for about 20 minutes on a forested pathway to the La Molina River. This is the starting point for the canyoning experiences that Fronteraverde offers. The sun was coming out nicely now as we drove on the narrow country roads of the Asturian mountains. We stopped in a pretty village called Asiegu which is a typical Asturian mountain village. We walked on narrow streets past a number of stone houses before we arrived at our destination: a cider house that was founded by brothers Manuel and Javier Niembro to introduce visitors to the typical gastronomy in an Asturian mountain village. Their company is called "Ruta'l Quesu y la Sidra" (the Cheese and Cider Route in the local Asturian dialect) and it provides a two hour tour of the village and well as a sit-down meal and locally produced cider. Then - what a big surprise - Asturian television showed up to film me while I was interviewing Manuel. The arrival of a Toronto-based travel journalist was apparently big enough news to draw out the local television crew. This was a first for me, getting filmed while I was interviewing Manuel! Juan packed me in his car and we drove down the mountain into the Cares River Valley. This valley cuts deeply into the surrounding mountains, and the Cares River Gorge is one of the most popular hiking routes in the Picos de Europa. After turning off the main road and ascending through a number of switchbacks, we stopped in Camarmeña, a picturesque high-altitude mountain village that features a gorgeous view towards the Naranjo de Bulnes, one of the highest mountains in the Picos de Europa mountain massif. It was now late afternoon and my stomach was definitely growling. After we finished our shots with Televisión Asturias, we drove down the mountains into a village called Arenas where we stopped for a very late lunch in a rustic local restaurant. From here we made one more attempt to visit the glacial lakes Enol and Ercina, high above the pilgrimage village of Covadonga. But as yesterday, the fog had rolled in and the weather was getting worse by the second. So we drove down the mountain again and Juan dropped me off at my comfortable home for the night, the Hotel La Cepada, where I enjoyed a nice warm night inside, looking out the large picture windows at the lit-up town of Cangas in the rain.