Picos de Europa: hiking Asturias and Cantabria

Bilbao to Potes through the Hermida gorge

Bilbao Airport along the coast to Unquera, then up the Desfiladero de La Hermida to Potes

• Welcome dinner
• Nuit : Potes
• Environ 3 h de route

Après-midi

Your guide meets the group in the arrivals hall at Bilbao Airport (BIO) in the early afternoon; plan to land by about 12:30 pm (the exact meeting time comes with your final itinerary). We drive west along the A-8 coast motorway, past Santander, and leave the sea at Unquera to follow the Deva river south into the Desfiladero de La Hermida, a gorge about 21 km long with limestone walls close on both sides of the road. It opens out into Liébana, a sheltered valley on the Cantabrian side of the Picos de Europa. Potes is a stone town where four valleys meet, built around the river and its bridges and the square tower of the Torre del Infantado.

Soir

After check-in your guide gives a short briefing on boots, weather and the three massifs of the park, with the map of the week's walks, then we sit down together to a welcome dinner in town.

Compris

• Pick-up at Bilbao Airport (BIO)
• Drive through the Desfiladero de La Hermida
• Welcome briefing and welcome dinner in Potes

Fuente Dé cable car and Horcados Rojos

Potes to Fuente Dé, the cable car up, the walk to Horcados Rojos and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Potes
• Environ 1 h de route

Matin

We drive half an hour up the valley to Fuente Dé, where the cliffs of the Central Massif close the valley in a wall, and take one of the first cable cars of the morning, before the summer queues build. The car rises about 750 m in a few minutes to the upper station at about 1,820 m, on the edge of a high limestone plateau. From there a broad track crosses the plateau past the Vueltona bend, then a rougher path climbs over scree and rock to the col of Horcados Rojos at about 2,344 m. Over the col the ground drops away, and on a clear day the Naranjo de Bulnes, the sheer pillar of rock the Asturians call Picu Urriellu, stands across the valley. We eat a picnic at the col with the view, then walk back the same way to the cable car. Expect chamois on the screes and alpine choughs around the top station.

Soir

Back in Potes by late afternoon, the evening is free.

Compris

• The Fuente Dé cable car, up and down
• Guided walk from the upper station to the Horcados Rojos col (about 12 km return, about 5 hours)
• Picnic lunch at the col

Santo Toribio and a cheese cave in Bejes

Potes to Santo Toribio de Liébana, then down the Hermida gorge to Bejes and back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Potes
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

In the morning we go up the hill above Potes to the monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana, which keeps a relic held to be the largest surviving piece of the True Cross, and where the monk Beatus of Liébana wrote his commentary on the Apocalypse in the 8th century. A short path climbs on through oak woods to the hermitage of San Miguel and a view over the four valleys of Liébana.

Après-midi

Lunch is a sit-down meal in the valley, with cocido lebaniego, the local chickpea stew, if you want it. In the afternoon we drive down the Hermida gorge and up a narrow road to Bejes, one of the two villages that make Picón Bejes-Tresviso, a blue cheese ripened in limestone caves. A local cheesemaker shows us the cave and the cheese at its different ages, and we taste it with bread and local wine.

Soir

The evening is free in Potes.

Compris

• Santo Toribio de Liébana monastery
• Walk to the hermitage of San Miguel viewpoint
• Sit-down lunch in Liébana
• Picón Bejes-Tresviso cheese cave visit and tasting in Bejes

The Cares Gorge, Caín to Poncebos

Potes over the San Glorio pass to Caín, the Cares Gorge on foot to Poncebos, then Cangas de Onís

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Cangas de Onís
• Environ 2.5 h de route

Soir

The evening is free.

Compris

• Drive over the San Glorio pass and through the Valdeón valley
• Guided walk through the Cares Gorge from Caín to Poncebos (about 12 km, 4 to 5 hours)
• Picnic lunch in the gorge
• Luggage moved by our vehicle from Potes to Cangas de Onís

Covadonga and the lakes

Cangas de Onís to Covadonga and up to the lakes of Enol and Ercina, then back

• Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
• Nuit : Cangas de Onís
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

From the lakes we walk out across the pastures and huts of the Western Massif, a 4-hour loop with views to the high peaks, and come back to a sit-down lunch at a restaurant by the lakes.

Soir

We are back in Cangas de Onís by mid-afternoon, with time to cross the high medieval bridge over the Sella and an evening of your own.

Compris

• Covadonga: the Santa Cueva and the basilica
• The lakes of Enol and Ercina
• Guided walk over the pastures of the Western Massif (about 10 km, about 4 hours)
• Sit-down lunch by the lakes
• The park shuttle bus fare if our vehicle cannot drive up to the lakes

Bulnes by funicular, Cabrales cheese and a cider evening

Cangas de Onís to Arenas de Cabrales and Poncebos, the funicular to Bulnes, then back to Cangas de Onís

• Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
• Nuit : Cangas de Onís
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Après-midi

We walk through its two hamlets, the lower one by the river and the upper Bulnes del Castillo, with the old stone barns and the high walls around them, and have a sit-down lunch in the village. In the afternoon we walk down the Canal del Texu, the old mule path to Poncebos, about 2 hours with a steady descent. On the way back we stop in Arenas de Cabrales for the Cueva del Queso, a cave that shows how Cabrales blue cheese is made and ripened, with a tasting.

Soir

In the evening we go together to a sidrería in Cangas de Onís, where the cider is poured from above the head into a short glass, for a last dinner of Asturian dishes.

Compris

• The Bulnes funicular from Poncebos
• Guided walk through Bulnes and Bulnes del Castillo
• Sit-down lunch in Bulnes
• Walk down the Canal del Texu to Poncebos (about 4 km, 2 hours)
• Cueva del Queso de Cabrales in Arenas de Cabrales, with a tasting
• Cider-house dinner in Cangas de Onís

Cangas de Onís to Oviedo

Cangas de Onís to Oviedo, or to Asturias Airport

• Petit-déjeuner
• Environ 1.5 h de route

Matin

A slow last morning: breakfast, a walk by the Sella if you want one, and, if your departure ends on a Sunday, the market stalls on the square.

Après-midi

Mid-morning we drive west out of the mountains through the green farm country of eastern Asturias, about an hour on the motorway, to Oviedo, the Asturian capital, arriving around midday. Our vehicle drops you in the old town or at the railway station; if you are flying, we take you instead to Asturias Airport (OVD), about 1 hour 15 from Cangas de Onís on the coast near Avilés. Asturias Airport has mostly domestic and European flights, so most guests connect through Madrid.

Soir

If you want to stay on, Oviedo's cathedral, its cider street of Gascona and the pre-Romanesque churches on Monte Naranco are a good reason for an extra night, and we can book it. Book a flight from Asturias Airport leaving after about 2 pm. Your guide sees you to the drop-off and checks your onward plans before saying goodbye.

Compris

• Drop-off in central Oviedo or at Asturias Airport (OVD)