Hola, Asturia! |

It took us a minute to get to this trailhead. It took us 10 hours to get back. Here’s what else happened when Val and I traveled to Asturia.

Shockingly, an in-flight meal. With actual food. And wine. No additional charge.

First bit of scenery and geology in Ribadesella.

First mural panel in a series of six along a wall near the harbor in Ribadesella, depicting the city’s history, including its cave art dating from 33,000 years ago.

Yes, we had tickets to the famed Tito Bustillo cave, but we were rained out. (Good reason to return.)

Even in mist and rain, I ran along the promenade that encircled the harbor and opened to the Cantabrian Sea.

Each rainy morning, we walked from our AirBnB (pink building) past the playground and the sycamore trees that hold hands with each other to Cafe La Villa. Great coffee. Jovial hosts to locals and us. Very patient when I went in sin Val and sin Euros and explained paying by credit card: “Perdon, pero mi esposa dormiende con el dinero.”

In another attempt to explore Ribadesella’s pre-history, we went to the site of reputed dinosaur footprints.

The map confused us, and we wandered the lovely hillsides in the rain…

…until it started pouring, and we ducked into a bar, whose tender told us “imposible” due to the heignt of the ocean and the rain deteriorating the stairs. So we returned to the colorful streets just in time for the sun to peek out.

Then we walked from our AirBnB in the direction opposite our regular cafe and climbed the street to this view.

In preparation for the arrival of Val’s brother, Tony, and his children, we moved to a different AirBnB overlooking the harbor.

Picking up Tony, Alexander, and Mateo from the train station in Oviedo (the capital of Asturia, about one hour from Ribadesella), these sculptures caught my eye.

The next day, Tony drove us around several towns and beach sites, such as Llastres.

Then Llanes, where we finally found some dinosaur footprints.

We also hit some places that might not have names.

We returned to Oviedo for a day before Tony and the boys hopped the train home. The car-free Old Town district is beautiful, with stone walkways, and stunning street sculptures and statues. Even a life-size Woody Allen, made in tribute to his shooting scenes there for Vicky Cristina Barcelona.

Now, about that hike that led off this blog entry. Val found it in a guidebook, which described the segment of the Ruta del Cares between Poncebos and Cain as one of the most picturesque in Spain. It is eight miles out and those same eight miles back (though they’re not called miles there), including a daunting first two miles mostly uphill mostly on scree and the trail occasionally narrowing to about two meters (European for “yards”), with sheer 500-meter drops to the raging river (not that the raging part would matter).

Poncebos as a placename on the map is mainly there as a marker for the trailhead and the hydroelectric plant powered by Rio Cares. We saw three other buildings, which all seemed to be housing for hikers. We stayed at Hostal Poncebos.

We arrived with enough light remaining for me to scout that initial ascent. With the mile jog from hotel to trailhead, it was a four-mile round trip.

In the next photo, see that white speck almost exactly in the middle? That’s the river.

Not too much after finding the goats, I headed back for a trout dinner at the hostal that I might have seen caught from the bank outside the dining room window.

Here are the next day’s hike highlights.