As we are stationed in Pola de Somiedo, we tried to hike down the valley, following the old trade-route running through in North-South direction.

Yet this is sometimes harder than thought… After following a parallel path which turned out to be a dead end (on the other side of the river) and trying to cross, we gave up after 2 hours, hiking back to the village and restoring our lost electrolytes in the process with a local cider (which tastes quite particular…). At least the pub is very picturesque alongside the same river (just here much smaller ) and the cooling system quite ingenious.

Being restored to our full liquid level we tracked back and finally, after some searching, found the old GR track which – as predicted – runs between the fields in between the walls of the stones of the fields. On a sunny day like it was, this is a pure treat…

At the end the path rises alongside the mountain flanks

providing wonderful views of the scenery

The old oaks everywhere are just beautiful

Here we had to turn back for not getting to the camper too late as we lost 3 hours in total at the start… Next time we will continue (now knowing where to start )

The next day we took a local transport up the valley to the end of the road (saving the first scorching 8 km) to hike to the end of the valley. En route we found (as it’s June everything is in full bloom) beautiful flowers, shrubs, trees…

Quite soon the path rose significantly

and the view gets more and more spectacular

Up and up… Reaching 1.700m at the highest point

Small breaks to refuel are required…

And especially to cherish the beautiful blooming trees

Another example

Final views from the top

Magnificent…