I came to this part of Spain to explore the mountains, or at least a small part of the mountains and was hoping to enjoy them without too many others. Both is working out well. There is a downside. You can’t just pop into a cafe for a coffee and pastry as they are all shut now until summer or even until next winter. I am spending three nights in Oviedo with the express purpose of visiting some of the numerous regional Nature Parks and today I went through Redes Nature Park and into the Regional Mountain Park of Riaño and Mampodre. The headline picture is from the latter. There was a mountain pass between taking me from Asturias to Castille and Leon, this time even higher at 1490m (4888ft) compared to yesterday 1300m (4265ft). At that altitude the wind was whistling over the pass, as was the case yesterday bringing down the nice low 20s C shade temperature. Of course there is no shade! There are little patches of snow on the surrounding peaks. A major feature of today’s trip were the high country lakes, reservoirs on the rivers including the Nalon which rises at Puerto de Tarna, todays major pass, and then flows down a canyon past Oviedo to the Bay of Biscay. My route took me up the Nalon to its source. A spectacular road which over the top becomes a patchwork of Alpine meadows with cows and horses. There were storks and butterflies to enjoy and time for a short hike at Riaño. It was certainly a day for the fedora. So here are some pictures, starting at Riaño and working back to Oviedo. The storks and their nest site are in Buron. There are couple of pictures from the Puerto de Tarna. Then a little selection down through the Redes Nature Park including a place known for its caves. As usual most of my road companions were cyclists. At the bottom of the canyon is a rather nice village Rioseco which I think means dry river, including one of the fanciest Asturias supported barns I’ve seen. I had intended to eat at a local restaurant, there is only one in walking distance, but I was far to early so will go back tomorrow at an appropriate time. The fall back pizza at the hotel was fine. The hotel combines ibis and ibis budget on the same site and looks a bit like a prison. It is fine and the staff are lovely even when we have language issues. By no means all staff speak English. That is not a subject for complaint as I cannot speak much Spanish either. The location is in an industrial area with an adjacent housing area where the restaurant is. I should be able to report on the quality of their food tomorrow.

For orientation there is an outline map is here.