We spent six days around park, moving every two days from east to north to west. Our plan was to do one big hike per day in the park.

Brez to Canal de las Arranedos

The morning started overcast with rain threatening but we decided to try this “mostly flat” hike near Potes. The drive up into Brez was straightforward and we got one of the several parallel parking spots just outside the village. To access the trailhead, you walk uphill through the village (avoiding a LOT of sheep poop). Advice on Google said to start the hike counterclockwise to avoid a steep incline at the start – heed this advice! The downhill at the end taxed my knees but I think I would have given up if we had started left. The 3.5 mile hike took us about 2 hours and while much of the far off views were obscured by clouds, the bird calls, wildflowers, and general landscape made up for some of that. We also saw a cascade across the valley, and cows with bells. We only encountered one other set of hikers, and a few local farmers. That said, there was A LOT of mud on the second half of the hike that we needed to traverse around.

Mogrovejo

Made a quick stop in town for a cheese plate and glass of wine. The weather changed from cloudy to sunshine back to cloudy again in under an hour!

Fuentes Dé

Because we were so close, we continued down the CA-185 to where it ended at Fuentes Dé but the higher mountains were fogged in and the cable car was not running.

Potes

Potes itself is a quaint little town with loads of stone buildings and bridges spanning both sides of the river (with loads of swooping house martins). We really enjoyed walking through the streets and exploring. While it had it’s tourist spots, we ate well and the grocery stores were the best we found in and around the park.

Mirador de San Miguel and Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana

We did a quick stop here when leaving Potes. The large parking lot was nearly empty which means we timed our visit well!

There are some great views from the hillside.

The Monastery was open during our visit, so we got the see the Chapel of the Holy Cross where a piece of the original cross is supposedly housed.

   

Sotres

Time to head into the heart of the park! Our next hotel was in Las Arenas, the jumping off point for the iconic Ruta de Ceres hike that we planned to do the following morning. It was only about an hour drive from the last place, so we continued through town all the way to Sotres. The drive into the village is dramatic with roadside waterfalls, old stone bridges and lots of narrow, twisty roads.

   

We easily found parking in the public lot north of town, which put us in a great location to hike to the Mirador de Los Jorcaos after lunch. This overlook had outstanding views of the valley and snow-peaked mountains. Walking through town was scenic too, since many houses had blooming flowers and extensive gardens.

Las Arenas

The main selling point for this town is the proximity to the most popular hike in the park. However, almost no restaurants were open at the beginning of the week. We found the town to be uninteresting and would have stayed only one night in retrospect.

Ruta del Cares (Poncebos to Cain RT)

A classic hike in Picos de Europa, 24km (15 miles) through a valley. After breakfast in our room to fortify us, we got to the trailhead at 9:15am and managed to snag a parking spot past the stone tunnel – so maybe 20 cars or so from the trailhead.

Not gonna lie, the ascent was tough – about 45 minutes of a straight uphill climb to Los Collaos, then a slow descent into the valley where the trail leveled off for the next 6 miles. Luckily, the scenery was absolutely breathtaking.

   

Much of the hike is on loose gravel of varying sizes, so good shoes are a MUST! Near Cain, the trail winds through very dark caves that are also full of puddles, so water resistant shoes (and a phone flashlight!) are recommended.

We made it to the town of Cain in about 3 hours where we found a shady picnic table by the creek to relax our feet, rehydrate, and eat our snacks. There were no public bathrooms in the town so you had to buy something at one of the local vendors to use their facilities.

The return hike was in more intense sunshine, so we took a few shade breaks.

   

At one point we saw two hikers surprised by curious goats inspecting their lunch!

I am a little more red after the hike!

We made it back in about 2:40 and with our timing we had the sun to our backs in both directions which was ideal for photos. If we were going to do it again I would prefer to start from Cain and skip the vertical climb section.

N-625 viewpoints

It was a long day of driving, but we saw some beautiful sights along the way. Heading out of Las Arenas, we stopped at the Poo parking lot for a spectacular viewpoint of the mountains, including the iconic Naranjo de Bulnes, aka Picu Urriellu (on the left below).

From there we drove west and south through Desfiladero de los Beyos, crossing back and forth over the Sella River multiple times. The landscape isn’t as steep as on the east side, but there were still lots of twists and turns. We passed a few waterfalls but most were hidden by trees or in the full sun, so hard to access or photograph.

   

Once on the south side of the park we turned east, where the terrain provided dramatic views of the Picos, especially our last stop, Posada de León.

Just after we turned around, a loss of tire pressure light came on for our rental car. We pulled over and didn’t see any noticeable ‘flat’ness on any of the tires, so we continued into town and found a gas station to check the tire pressure. Everything was even at 2.8 so we reset the tire pressure warning and parked nearby in the large free lot near the bus station. It never lit up again, only when we were the farthest from civilization!

Cangas de Onís

The largest of the three towns we stayed in the Picos de Europa, Cangas de Onís was the busiest by far! Lots of shops and restaurants and the iconic Roman bridge with the victory cross.

Lagos de Covadonga

The 22km drive from Cangas de Onís to the Buferrera parking lot at the lakes went pretty smoothly until about the 14km marker, when the twisty road narrowed considerably and traffic got bunched up as larger vehicles struggled to pass one another. There are steep drop-offs and not a lot of guardrails, so this part got a little tricky for larger vans and buses. But, wow, what views!

There was plenty of space to park in the large lower lot, so we parked and walked over to Lago Enol. We followed the road for a bit, then up a staircase and over the ridge for views of Lago de la Ercina at the Mirador de Entrelagos viewpoint.

We saw some signs that listed the PR-PNPE 2 Los Lagos Short Trail we wanted but there didn’t seem to be a cohesive route to follow, so we just continued along one of the paths through a picnic area, stopping at a sculpture dedicated to miners in the area.

   

There were lots of cows with bells, and cheeky birds too.

We ended up at the Mirador del Príncipe de Asturias which provided some gorgeous valley views.

It was clear enough to see the ocean in the distance too.

On the way out we had some delay as two buses couldn’t pass one another, so the one in front of us just kept backing up, and backing up… I finally laid on my horn as there were cars behind me! The driver eventually got out and waved me past. Our car had mere inches on either side between a stone barrier near the wheels and the giant side of a bus. Eric hung out the window to let me know how much space I had for the rocks and I swear the driver sucked in his belly when we passed. Gah!

On the return trip down the hill, we noticed that the barrier gate was down, restricting access to the lakes road. We knew it closes on the weekends when they only allow buses to go up, but it was wide open when we drove through earlier that morning.

About halfway back into town is the Basílica de Santa María la Real de Covadonga complex with a cathedral, small chapel, a giant gift shop and loads of vending machines selling prayer candles. We knew parking at the very top was going to be impossible, so we opted for a shady spot in a smaller lot further up the road. We had to climb a bunch of steps to reach the cathedral but it was mostly shaded.

We visited the Sanctuary of Covadonga first, a small chapel carved into the top of a cave with a lake below it. Very scenic.

Once up there, it was a quick walk in the full sunshine to the main cathedral. We were able to take in the atmosphere for about 15 minutes before one of the scheduled masses started.