Today was in some ways like yesterday, leaving misty and overcast Oviedo, climbing into the sunlit mountains, before returning to misty and overcast Oviedo. I am sure the city has much to be proud of but for me it was just the best entry point to the Natural Parks lying to the South. Today, just one park named after the river Somiedo. Not as far from my lodging with a fair bit of the journey on excellent motorway and highways. Even the road up to the Brana de Mumian was a lovely two lane black top. I did take a branch off to visit Villar de Villas, the start point for a hike to the Brana La Pornacal. This was going to be a challenging walk with a climb of 1250 ft and a round trip of 4 miles. I know I would not have made the complete walk but was ready to give it a go. There was one of the 5 village parking spaces available except that a kind local had parked across the middle of two leaving no space. The village streets (an exaggeration) were suitable for very small cars but a challenge for a car the length of a Model 3. Some corners required a couple of bites to get around! Anyway while trying to navigate out I found a place for a brief stop by a gate into a small branos, upland meadow. The farmer walked down to tend to some cows and gave me a smile and a hello, recognising I was there to just take some photos. One of his cows quickly came over to see who this stranger was. Back down the mountain and then a right turn up to my final destination. Here again there is a walk which is beyond my legs but I could park the car and I headed up the trail for a bit starting at 4630 ft above see level in the nice clear air. A short walk up the trail was a little farm with typical cattle including a pretty young calf and the views were just fine. After my little walk I sat at the, kindly provided, picnic table for a little lunch and got the bins out for a scan of the mountains hoping maybe to see a bear or other feature creatures in this area. No luck but a lovely spot for lunch anyway. It was time to head back to Oviedo to charge the car for tomorrow and do a little wine shopping, picking up some local wine while the Supercharger did its business. I could not have asked for better weather for this leg of my journey. Here are some snaps with a little captioning for identification. The headline is my lunch spot amongst the Brana.

For orientation there is an outline map is here.

These are from Brana de Mumian

Barbeque anyone?

The Somiedo River

Villar de Vildas

Robledo and it's Mirador

Just on the road