Picos de Europa: hiking Asturias and Cantabria

1. Jour 1 : Bilbao to Potes through the Hermida gorge

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

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Potes
   Détail du jour 1

   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. 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

   Temps libre : Free time in Potes before dinner

   Activité : If you arrive a day early, Bilbao is the easier place to spend the night; ask us and we add the hotel night.

   

2. Jour 2 : Fuente Dé cable car and Horcados Rojos

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

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Potes
   Détail du jour 2

   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. 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

   Option plus facile : Walk the level track from the upper station to the Vueltona and back, about 2 hours, then ride down early and spend the afternoon in Potes.

   Option plus active : In good conditions, add the short, steep climb from the col to Pico Tesorero, about 2,570 m, where Asturias, Cantabria and León meet.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Potes

   Activité : About 12 km and 5 hours with about 550 m of ascent on scree and rock at up to about 2,344 m. If cloud covers the top, the guide moves this walk to day 3.

3. Jour 3 : Santo Toribio and a cheese cave in Bejes

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

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Potes
   Détail du jour 3

   An easier day after the high walk. 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. 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. 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

   Option plus active : Walk from Potes up to Santo Toribio on the old path, about 3 km and an hour, instead of riding.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Potes

   Activité : About 3 to 4 km of easy walking in the morning, plus a short walk in Bejes.

4. Jour 4 : 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

   • Environ 2.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Cangas de Onís
   Détail du jour 4

   We leave Potes at 8 am with the luggage on board and cross the San Glorio pass into the Valdeón valley, on the León side of the park, then go down the narrow road to Caín, the village at the upper end of the Cares Gorge. Starting here by about 10 am puts the tunnel section near Caín first, before the walkers coming the other way from Poncebos reach it. The path was cut into the rock in the mid-20th century to service a hydroelectric canal, and it runs through short tunnels and over bridges with the river far below and walls rising more than 1,000 m on either side. It is about 12 km to Poncebos; we stop for a picnic on a ledge above the river. Our vehicle drives round to meet the group at Poncebos, and it is about 45 minutes through Arenas de Cabrales, with the Naranjo de Bulnes in view on the way, to Cangas de Onís. 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

   Option plus facile : Walk the first 3 km from Caín, through the tunnels, and back, about 2 hours, then ride round to Poncebos in the vehicle and meet the group there.

   Temps libre : Evening free in Cangas de Onís

   Activité : About 12 km and 4 to 5 hours on a rocky path with long unfenced drops; not for anyone with a strong fear of heights. The last section climbs over a shoulder and drops steeply to Poncebos.

   

5. Jour 5 : Covadonga and the lakes

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

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Cangas de Onís
   Détail du jour 5

   We go early to Covadonga, ten minutes up the valley, where tradition places the battle of about 722 that began the Christian kingdom of Asturias. The Santa Cueva, a chapel set into the cliff above a waterfall, holds the tomb attributed to King Pelayo, and a pink stone basilica stands on the rise opposite. Then a narrow road climbs about 12 km to the lakes of Enol and Ercina at around 1,100 m, set among limestone peaks and summer pastures; in the busiest weeks the road closes to private vehicles, and if our minibus has no access permit we ride the park's shuttle bus instead. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Walk the marked loop between the two lakes, about 5 km and 2 hours, and meet the group for lunch.

   Option plus active : Walk on to the Vega de Ario hut, about 15 km return and 6 hours, for the view across the Cares to the Central Massif.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon and evening free in Cangas de Onís

   Activité : About 10 km and 4 hours with about 400 m of ascent on paths and tracks, some of them muddy after rain.

6. Jour 6 : 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

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Cangas de Onís
   Détail du jour 6

   We drive about 45 minutes east to Arenas de Cabrales and on to Poncebos, where a funicular runs about 2 km inside the mountain up to Bulnes. Until it opened in 2001 the village could be reached only on foot, and it still has no road. 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. 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

   Option plus facile : Ride the funicular back down instead of walking the Canal del Texu, and wait for the group with a coffee at Poncebos.

   Option plus active : Walk up the Canal del Texu to Bulnes in the morning as well, about 1 hour 30 with about 400 m of ascent, and ride down only if your knees ask.

   Temps libre : Free hour in Cangas de Onís before dinner

   Activité : About 6 km in all, with a descent of about 400 m on a stony mule path. Walking poles help.

   

7. Jour 7 : Cangas de Onís to Oviedo

   Cangas de Onís to Oviedo, or to Asturias Airport

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner
   Détail du jour 7

   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. 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. 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)

   Temps libre : Morning free in Cangas de Onís

   Activité : Book a flight from Asturias Airport leaving after about 2 pm.

Faune et météo : June to September brings the long days and open high paths; July and August are warm in the valleys and busiest at Fuente Dé, the Cares and the lakes, so we start early. Cloud and rain are possible in any month. Look for griffon vultures over the gorges, chamois on the high ground around Horcados Rojos, and cows, sheep and goats on the summer pastures.

• Potes3 nuits
• Cangas de Onís3 nuits