This is one of a collection of roundtour routes starting and ending at the biker friendly Hotel Ayre Alfonso II in the popular city of Oviedo. Oviedo is one of Spain's historical treasure troves, home to several UNESCO World Heritage sites that hail from the Kingdom of Asturias. At the heart of the city is the medieval old town where you can find most of these landmarks. Oviedo is a great base to tour the mountains and the Asturian coast.
This route will give you a sense of true adventure without having to leave the bitumen roads as you head into the Cantabrian Mountains.
A few kilometres from the Alfonso II hotel and you'll pass the Puente Gallegos old bridge to your right, the bridge forms part of The Primitive Way pilgrimage, the oldest of all the Camino de Santiago routes. This was the route of the first pilgrim, the medieval King Alfonso II. He was born in Oviedo in 760 A.D. and during his reign, which covered a span of 51 years, Alfonso discovered the tomb of St. James the Great (called Santiago (San Iago) in Spanish) in the town of Compostela, which later became known as the city of Santiago de Compostela. The Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) is a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James, the patron saint of Spain.
A little further on is another old bridge, the medieval Bridge of Peñaflor was the site of the Battle of Peñaflor in which soldiers and civilians, under the orders of Gregorio Jove-Valdés, fought against the advancing troops of Napoleon in 1808.
The small hamlet of Alcubiella offers you the chance of a coffee or snack before heading into the sparsely populated mountains.
The route into the mountains uses the AS-311, an incredibly twisty and exciting road to use, it's not a fast road so leave your knee sliders behind. What it lacks in speed is made up for by bucket loads of breathtaking scenery, rock tunnels and steep drop offs.
You will enter the Las Ubinas la Mesa Natural Park situated in the south of Asturias, thanks to its biological wealth and good condition, this Nature Reserve was designated a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2012. It is a mountainous region in which the Peña Ubiña massif stands out - the second highest mountain in the region, over 2,400 m high. This area has one of the richest rock art sites in the north-east of Spain, with paintings from the Bronze and Iron Ages. As for wildlife, as well as brown bears, you can also find species such as golden eagles, Cantabrian capercaillies, otters and desmans a snouted and naked-tailed diving insectivore related to moles and shrews.
At San Martin the route heads west and into the Somiedo Natural Park.
The Somiedo Nature Reserve was awarded the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve designation in 2000. The landscape in Somiedo is typical of the ecosystems in the Cordillera Cantábrica range. This reserve is well known especially because it is home to one of Europe's largest populations of free-roaming brown bears. As you would imagine, the landscape and scenery are beautiful to ride through.
Crossing the regional border from Asturias to Castilla y Leon you will find the small hamlet of Huergas de Babia, this is situated at the most southerly point of the route and makes an ideal place for a lunch stop at Restaurante Fuensanta where they serve delicious home cooked food.
After lunch you pick up the LE-481 at San Emiliano and head north. This next 10 kms of road is wide and has some great open bends that lead you back into Austrias and to the highest point of the route Puerto de Ventana at 1587m. The road number changes to the AS-228 and as it descends it becomes more twisty with a few hairpin bends.
After passing through the small hamlet of Parmu, you'll reach the start of the Estrechura Gorge. The high, vertical limestone walls have been excavated by the Páramo River and towards the end of the gorge you'll find a most magnificent cave.
Cueva Huerta is one of the largest Asturian cavities approximately 14.5 km in length. Declared a Natural Monument in 2002, both for its dimensions and for its hydrogeological and biological complexity. The tour through the cave takes approximately one hour duration with a charge of €5/person. If you don't visit the cave, it is worth stopping for the view down the valley.
A few kms further on and you'll enter a rock tunnel that leads you to another gorge, the Desfiladero de Peñasxuntas, not as large as the last gorge but equally as enjoyable. Next is the beautiful medieval town of Proaza with it's medieval stone tower. The towns plaza is a natural place to stop for a coffee and watch the world go by.
From Proaza it's just a 15 minute ride back to the hotel in Oviedo.
Enjoy