A New Walk; Villamayor to the Hotel along the Sueve Mountains.

Typical scenery along the walk

Whilst we have been shut over the winter I have developed six new walking routes, five of which can be done from the hotel and using public transport. I’ve just finished testing the walking notes for the longest of these walks which is from the village of Villamayor to the hotel along the side of the Sueve mountain range.

Farm track on the side of the Sueve mountain near the begining of the walk.

The walk involves walking down to Arriondas where you catch a train or bus to the Village of Villamayor from where the walk starts. At first you follow small lanes for about 2 kms to the edge of the Sueve Mountains, and then you follow small tracks which link small farms and pastures all along the edge of the Sueve Mountains.

Traditional farm landscape on the walk

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There is a fascinating contrast between the farms on the land just beneath the mountain range and the farms higher up on the mountain side. The lower farms on the better agricultural land (at the beginning of the walk) have been subject to “improvement plans” These farms predominantly have dairy cows which are kept in cattle sheds most of the time and the land has been planted with grass monocrops. The farms along the mountain side where it is much more difficult to use machinery still operate in a traditional manner with hay fields and a mix of sheep and Asturian mountain cows grazing the land.

"La Collada" one of the small traditionl farms on the route

The walk passes many different small tradional farms (some of which are being abandoned) and eventually climbs up to the common pasture by the side of the Tiegu peak.

Common land where a mixture of cattle and horses graze

Once across a small section of the common pastures a track takes you down to the small villages of Villar de la Cuesta and Cofiño. The walk then goes along old animal tracks back to the hotel, where the bar will be awaiting you for a well deserved drink.

Looking back from where you have been walking with the snow covered Ponga Mountains in the distance.

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As always when walking along the Sueve the views are absolutely stunning on this walk with the Sella and Piloña river valleys in the foreground and the Pico de Europa and Ponga Mountains in the back ground.

Traditional farm hut

In total the walk is about 16kms with an accumulative ascent of about 800m. Most of the walk is on farm tracks, some on small lanes and short section on animal tracks across open pasture. There is a very short section just before the hotel which is slightly overgrown but hopefully we will get this section cleared before too many guests do the walk! Total walking time from Villamayor to the hotel is about 6 hours.

Don’t worry if this walk sounds a bit strenuous we also have some new walks which are also lovely and much less demanding!