Hiking in Asturias, Spain

Having said a fond fairwell to Captain Ron, I spent the night in Dalaman (watching a Turkish Errol Flynn-style movie) and the next morning flew to Istanbul and on to Madrid to meet up with my girlfriends from Sundari Yoga studio in Cocoa Beach.  When I arrived at the hotel, they were waiting for me in the lobby ..what a lovely surprise...and after a quick shower we went out on the town.  We wandered thru the old town window shopping and admiring the architecture. We came upon a Chocolateria and spied patrons eating churros.  I haven't had them in a long time! These are made from an egg-rich dough a bit like popover dough, extruded and deep fried to a golden brown, which turn out custardy on the inside and crispy on the outside. Then you dip them in chocolate sauce and enjoy a moment of gustatory ecstasy. In a shop straight out of the 1930's decorated with autographed photos of famous patrons such as Jimmy Carter and Naomi Campbell, we could only eat about half of the giant mound of churros we were served.

Churros

The next day we took the public bus from Madrid to Oviedo, passing thru rolling plains of vineyards and red earth tilled for the fall.  We entered the majestic mountains of Asturias state , and at last arrived in the rural hotel of Fuente Lucia.

Fuente Lucia, the Spanish Steps, our hosts

Hiking day 1.  We take a short ride to the Senda del Oso, the bear trail.  It is a 12 K walk through gentle inclines, and we were introduced by Camilo, our guide , to the present and past of where we are. Chestnuts, English walnuts and hazel nuts are abundant in the woods, and mosses ferns and mushrooms flourish in the fall mists.  We walk through villages where the local stone houses can be more than 300 years old, and food storage buildings called horreos dot the counttryside.

Mastiff dogs, an ancient breed

They are built with a lower level detached completely from the upper wooden storey, which is totally open underneath to permit airflow, to keep the food from spoiling.  Corners are supported by wooden pillars with a large flat stone, to keep rats, snakes and mice out. Ingenious.  The forest has regrown on pastures which had been cleared over thousands of years.

An horreo, the food storage building. The ventilation beneath helps preserve the food.

 There is greater biodiversity because of the presence of the meadows and reforestation, more birds are present.

On the trail.

We started in the village Ricabo and walked by Ronderos, Villamarcel, and Coanyana. We saw a carved porch, intricately hand-carved with chamois and deer heads.

Beautiful carvings by a retired mine carpenter

Day 2    The yew tree walk.  We walk about 7 k in the morning through the forest to see an old church with an ancient yew tree which is around 1000 years old. Yew trees are commonly found by churches. The planting of yew trees predates Christianity, and the tradition is still honored. The tree was huge, meters in girth.

The ancient yew tree. What history it has witnessed!

 We walked on through pasture land with happy cattle. It began to drizzle, and we puton rain gear and walked on. I wove fern crowns for Barb and Bridget.

Bridget and Barb, our wood nymphs

 On we went to Bermiego to Casa Jumello, where we went upstairs to a huge meal of pote asturiano, the rich bean soup containing kale, blood sausage, chorizo  and fava or white beans .Also on the menu was fibado, Asturian fava bean soup the with paprika and ham. We enjoyed local Cabrales bleu cheese, delish. Postres included perfectly prepared flan. Three more kilometers back to the hotel, for a total of 10k today.

The best flan ever!

Day 3.  Senda de las Xanas. The Xanas were watersprites who lived in a certain pool way up in the high country. Young men must sleep naked in the pasture til the dew falls on their skin, then come to the pool and kiss the water's surface so that a perfect circle of rings goes out. The xana will kiss him from inside the pool and then come out to make love to him.  Too bad the pool is not on the current trail!  We started out hiking and moved up along a ridge. We had a beautiful open view to the road, which turned out to be the last best place to go to the bathroom before going onto the cliff face where the railroad tunnel was cut.  Imageine six of us women all squatting in a row overlooking the valley!

Here is a shot of the loo.

  On we went, onto the old rail right-of-way cut into the living rock and running all the way through the Las Xanas gorge.  Beautiful country, a long drop to nothing on one side and the veins of the mountain on the  other.

 We descended off the cliff face and down into the woods, littered with chestnuts and along a bubbling brook. A ruined water mill was there, the grindstone still in place.  We came out into pasture land, and walked on to the village church, set in a green valley with cattle grazing and cowbells tinkling gently.

Going on the the next village, Pedroveya , meaning old stone, we had a picnic lunch at the church of San Antonio  with Judy and Juan Carlos; bread cheese ham olives and fruit.  We walked on into Pedroveya to meet up with the van, taking folk back to the casa for massages. The cafe used their horreo for a charming setting, festooned with swags onion and garlic, pumpkins and seasonal fall flowers.

day 4  Senda de Osos segment two.  We walk from the hotel along the ancient trail between the villages, used from time immemorial for commerce between the mountain people.  The chestnut trees are gigantic, many are hollowed out and on the last phase of their lives.

We walk along a burbling stream, coming a last to a water mill, intact but being slowly overrun by the stream.  Camilo scaled the wall like the rock climber he is, and shot with my camera to the inside of the mill, the millstones and axel of the mill still in place with
water running across the floor.

The old mill

We walked on, collecting chestnuts , moving uphill to the next village.  Camilo had arrange with a local lady for us to see her water mill, and her garden.  She demonstrated how the mill was activated, the grains dropping down and ground into chicken feed or corn meal according to the adjustment of centuries old  mechanism.

On we walked to the village of San Pedro de Arrojo,to a 12th century Romanesque church.

Tenth century Romanesque church

The apse of the church was built on soft ground and settled by several degrees, and cracks in the walls were marked with witness blocks which will crack and indicate further settling and possible structural instability. We walked on toward the hotel, and through a tunnel, to the village of Santa Marina de Quiros, were we  dined at La Rubia restaurant.  Well, we all passed through, most of us making a hard right turn, except for Bridget and Hildegard, who went straight and were hard to find for a good hour or so.  We had a good meal, in spite  were worried.(Never let missing expedition members interfere with feeding time!) Camilo did a lot of jogging extra that day! All was well in the end, we had fun and a good day.

Our little lost sheep

This evening is Camilo's show, a program about hiking in Asturias, which is the most popular program on TV here and makes him a real rock star.  The girl at the rental office was thrilled to see him and spoke to him later when we guests were not present. Everywhere we go he is recognized and people want their pictures taken with him.

Day 5  To the coast.

To Pavia village, to the market , where you can buy scarfs, corsets, vegetables and all sorts of fun stuff. I hung with Aussie Vicki and we just chatted and  browsed and came away empty handed. After this we, went on to the mighty Bay of Biscaye, known locally as the  Cantabrian Sea, to see the Atlantic rollers dashing themselves against the jaws of Europe, Los Picos de Europa a few hours west of where we were.

We hiked along the coast, along beaches and beside villas built along the cliffs of the bay.  The view was lovely. We managed to stay together, though we split up for a moment, and meet up for our picnic with Judy and Juan Carlos.  We had cheese and ham, bread and olives, and polverito and marzipan cookies, which are special to Christmas.  We then drove up to the lighthouse, Faro De Vidio, the last lighthouse built in Spain, in the 1950's. It overlooks an island covered with seabirds and a sea cave.  After we got back, Camilo, Karen and I went into Oviedo to rent the van forour road trip. We walked through the Hotel de la Reconquesta a grand old building.

Hotel de la Reconquesta, Oviedo

Then back to the hotel for Paella night, courtesy of Juan Carlos .

Paella night

Day 6  The challenging day.  We walk to the national park of Somiedo (summit) National Park.  We all hike together along the trail, an old Roman road, level and fairly smooth, along pastures with horses and cows (both raised for meat) grazing on fresh green grass.

We pass old stone buildings, coming at last to a milestone marking Pedraxueve, Jupiter's Stone, from Roman days.

At this place was a neolithic tumulus, long fallen to the predations of time and treasure hunters.  From there, our group split up, the easy route running along hte roman road and the Challenging group heading straight up grade. I left my stick at a pitstop, and went all the way back past the tumulus to find it. We went on climbing, climbing , breathless and panting, to beautiful stops.

I had to take a breather after we rejoin ed the group , and happened to spot a chamois on the ridgetop above us.

The chamois

We continued climbing -to the lightening-struck marker at the summit, a geodesic survey marker at the summit at 1765 meters. We are surrounded by mountains 360 degrees.  Lovely.

At the summit

 We descended along cow paths and rejoined the rest of the group, who managed to get under the barbed wire fence in one piece. We had a lovely lunch of quesadillas, olives , bread, cheese, chocolate, nuts.

An ancient and distinctive coat patter...

which  is depicted in Neolithic cave paintings in this region!

We had a lovely hike along the Roman silver road back to the van.  We return to the hotel, where it is aloha night and everyone dresses up for dinner, typical Spanish potato tortilla , tomatoes, and great company. In the morning our friends depart, Vicki and Barb along their paths, Lisa, Christine, Genielle, and Shanna, Paula, Catherine M went home and left the rest of us to continue on for our next week's road trip.