Spain's Sendero Historico: The GR1. John Hayes
Oviedo is a lovely city particularly famous for its pre-Romanesque buildings the best of which – Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo – are located just out of town. These both featured in the Woody Allen film Vicky Cristina Barcelona and Allen’s praise of the place means he is now a local hero and honoured with a city centre statue. The easiest way to get to Oviedo for international travellers is via Asturias airport or, a bit further away, Santander. Alternatively you can fly to Madrid and catch a train.
Reinosa is much less interesting than Oviedo and, for most travellers, would not justify an extended stay. It is, however, particularly well connected: to Santander (a bus every hour); to Bilbao and León one bus each way a day; and Madrid (two trains a day). If you are continuing on the GR1 from here, you could easily press on to Corconte (the start of the second section) by bus when you finish walking Stage 6.
SECTION 1: KEY INFORMATION
| Distance | 158.5km |
| Total ascent | 4950m |
| Total descent | 5650m |
| Alternative schedule | Consider staying in the hostel in Trilollo and exploring walks around the Curavacas – see Stage 2. |
STAGE 1
Puerto de Tarna to Salamon
| Start | Hospedería de Salamon, Puerto de Tarna (1509m) |
| Distance | 28km |
| Ascent/Descent | 560m/1040m |
| Grade | 4/4 |
| Walking time | 8hr 50min |
| Maximum altitude | 1585m |
| Access | From Oviedo, by bus up to Bezanes (in the Alto Nalon and Natural Park of Redes) and a taxi up to the pass itself. All being well you should be able to start walking by 11.30am. From Bezanes, ask Rafael, the taxi driver who owns the casa rural there (see www.clubrural.com), to take you up in the morning. |
An excellent first day, great scenery, long with a pass to climb over in the middle but not a tough walk. There is a bar in Manaña but it doesn’t provide food. If you want a shorter first day than there is accommodation at Manaña.
Puerto de Tarna is a pass that sits on the regional boundary between Asturias and Castilla y León. On the right-hand side of the road at the pass is an information board about the Regional Park of the Picos de Europa (easily confused with the National Park of the Picos de Europa which is located immediately to the northeast and contains the main part of the Picos de Europa range). The highest mountain in the Picos, Torre Cerredo (2648m), is about 6km from the pass as the crow flies.
Although there is a restaurant it is not always open and not to be relied on.
Follow a path for 600 metres heading directly south from the pass on the right-hand side of the valley, parallel to a road on the left-hand side, and descend for 600 metres across open moorland to the unoccupied hamlet of Caserío de Riosol. Pass the church and head down to a fountain and picnic area just below the hamlet and join a dirt road heading southeast. The signs at this point direct you along the PR-19. PR indicates a short walking trail, ‘Sendero de Pequeño Recorrido’ in Spanish.
The route follows the south side of a valley with open pastures to the left and the Picos de Mampodre to the right.
Stay on the dirt road, cross a low pass and head down into Maraña nestling under the cliffs of the Peña Hoguera. The views south of Peñas Mediodía (2192m) from within the village are excellent.
Maraña has a bar, a very small shop and cabin-style accommodation at the Cabañas Patagonicas (see www.booking.com).
Parque Regional de Picos Europa
Head east out of Maraña along the main road for about 600 metres. Leave the road just beyond footpath signs heading north, cross an old bridge and continue east along the edge of pastures to the little village of Acebedo.
The route enters Acebedo avoiding the main road and crosses a bridge over a small river in the village centre. Head southwest out of the village up an ever-steepening dirt road and follow it west for about a kilometre, towards the Peñas Mediodía. Turn south, staying on the same dirt road, and head up a valley into increasingly dramatic mountains. After 5km the dirt road splits. Turn left here and climb in an easterly direction. The landscape becomes open and moor-like with amazing views back into the Picos de Mampodre. Just before the top of the pass, leave the dirt road, which heads north up to the top of the ridge, and turn south to the pass, the Collado de Lois.
Cross the pass and follow a well-defined path down, initially through trees, and then across open pasture, to a stream joining a route that comes down from a refuge to the east. Follow a path running along a tight valley, initially along the side of a stream, and head south, then west, all the way to the hamlet of Lois in the centre of which stands a large baroque-style church (called the Mountain Cathedral, Catedral de la Montaña, for its size compared with the small village).
From Lois follow a road east and then south, through a narrow gorge with a river running along the bottom, through Ciguera, all the way to Salamon.
Salamon is another tiny village with accommodation in a casa rural, the Hospedería de Salamon (987 710 806, www.hospederiadesalamon.es)
STAGE 2
Salamon to Prioro
| Start | Hospedería de Salamon, Salamon (1114m) |
| Distance | 19.5km |
| Ascent/Descent | 1020m/970m |
| Grade | 3/4 |
| Walking time | 7hr 20min |
| Maximum altitude | 1583m |
Although not long, Stage 2 crosses three passes and a tackles a significant amount of climb. Apart from Las Salas there is nowhere to stop on the way so start early and aim to get to the Prioro in time for a late lunch.
Turn right from the Hospedería de Salamon and walk down the road to a bridge. Cross the bridge and turn right, head northeast through Salamon and climb along a concrete road to the edge of the village and take a right fork up the side of the valley. The trail zigs-zags its way steeply up through trees before levelling out on the final approach to the pass, the Collado del Pando.
Crossing the Collado del Pando
Cross the pass and follow a path that switches from the left-hand side of valley to the right before descending down along a beautiful old track. It passes a ‘chozo’, a traditional thatched shepherd’s refuge, and heads down through evergreen oaks, Pyrenean or Holm, to the village of Las Salas. Watch out for deer in the trees.
Las Salas is a small village located on the first significant road on the route. There is accommodation and food at the hostal/bar, Hostal las Pintas (987 71 08 33) and the rural tourism centre, the Centro de Turismo Rural Vegalion (see www.booking.com). There are also signs there for St James’s Way.
Follow the road past the hostal, turn right and cross the bridge over the Río Esla. Head east alongside the river. After a kilometre, on the other side of the river, the great wall of the dam that holds back the waters of the Riaño reservoir should be visible.
Leave the river and follow a path alongside a stream to a bridge and onto a road. Follow the road for 2km to the village of Remolina.