The Road from Santiago

  We are heading inland again to take the road east.  The first place on our list is the Palacio de Andes.  It is a 16th century structure with a small chael attached.  https://navia.vivirasturias.com/patrimonio-civil/c/0/i/60619281/palacio-andes   Pichu gives it five stars and ‘Beautiful Asturian mansion with chapel and dovecote. It is a shame not to be able to visit it inside with a visiting schedule.’   Borochi Goro added ‘A great palace, to live a unique experience of how the marquises lived. Onwards for a rest at the Apartamento Vacacional La Oca.  A holiday flat with no reviews or information.  Behind it is The Church of St Peter of Andres.  It has one, four year old review.  Guillermo gave it five stars and no words.   While the church and the flat have little or no interest 138 people have viewed St Peter’s Football field.  Alejandro gives it five stars and said it was ‘Football for the brave.’  German GG is l...

We are heading into Navia.  In early August the Asturians do what seems to come naturally and dash down the river in a race.  Rivers seem to have been invented so Asturians can race down them.  We will pass one of the tidal marshes and cross the river and into the town. Navia exists as one of those small ports which crowd round river estuaries in northern Spain. It is the lowest bridging point for road and rail. The road sweeps into town and then hits a small roundabout which lets us head back north.  We will pass a Sideria. We will have more on cider later but the Sideria Antolin has 4.1 stars from 2000+ reviews.    Two weeks ago Alekse gave the best of possible reviews ‘ The coffee is good, the tortilla portion is tasty and affordable price-wise. The bathrooms are clean.’  What more could you want. Navia is one of those places that is small enough to get a hold on but large enough to have bits to discover.  We are not really going into town. Lik...

  We are starting the day near the Castro de Coana and so we should.  This is a spectacular Iron Age fort, dating back to about the 4th century BC and being occupied till into the 1st century, during Roman occupation.  The 80 houses were lived in by between 1500 and 2000 people. The stone walls mean the streets and lanes remain for the casual visitor who can marvel at the pavements and drainage We stayed nearby during our first extended holiday in Spain. This was one of the first places we visited  - of course.  It was one of those warm after the rain mornings.  The visitor’s centre was small and not crammed with things.  I think we share the site with a couple of other people.  I will include photos. As we are passing by Coana we might as well look at the ayuntamiento website.   https://ayuntamientodecoana.com/   The outstanding news for today [5th June] is  »  Coaña Open for Vacations: Summer children's programming »  Fi...

  T he ‘off-piste’ track we went on yesterday suddenly gets all Streetview. I like to imagine the car went off the main road and found the lane became a decent enough track, got this far and thought ‘sod, here is a place we can do a three point turn, let’s go back.’   First feature of the journey today is the Cementerio parroquial de Trelles.  It has no reviews.  We are entering Trelles. This is the central hamlet of the parish, which can boast 292 inhabitants.  Here is the Spanish [and only] entry in full. ‘ Trelles 1 ​ is a place belonging to the parish of Trelles , in the council of Coaña , Eo-Navia region , Principality of Asturias , Spain . 2 ​3’  The settlements are still scattered but the houses are becoming more frequent as we approach the coast. The parish church is dedicated to St John and the 24th June is the big fiesta day - sorry we missed it.  The place has 4 reviews, but they don’t tend to be about the church.  Raul Tre...

  We have been remiss in the number of cabinet shops we have visited. Let us put that to rights, nip off the road and visit the Carpinteria Santiago Benito e Hijos.  It opens from 9am to 1pm and 2pm to 6pm on weekdays.  15 people have rallied around to review it and it gets 4.9 stars. Most reviews are of the strong but silent type.  Good Man is more forthcoming ‘Uploaded to the highest standard, pleasant treatment, everything is super)))’ Beyond that enjoy the views. We can see the River Navia below us so we might consider it at this moment.  The river drains an area of over 2500km2 and flows for 159km averaging 62.85m3/s.    We are very near to the Presa de Arbon hydroelectric plant.  https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embalse_de_Arb%C3%B3n   It was built in 1967 and generates 28mw.   Tomorrow - a settlement.

  So let’s talk about the AS-12.  We could follow the road through the scattered houses in the valley but why do so when the AS-12 offers you speedy valley-side travel. The AS-12 is 82.4km long, being the second longest of the Principality of Asturias’ road network. It is pipped to the post by the AS-15 [106km] but mocks the pretensions of the  AS-117 [65.3km].  One of the features of this road is the survival of the Manuel Pardo milestone.  I’ve included a photo. I can’t find much else. I assume it is not named after the American serial killer or the Bolivian soldier. We are passing the Casa rural Mirador del Navia. It has 33 reviews and a five star rating - not a single non-5 exists..  https://miradordelnavia.com/ Paula said ‘Stay of 10 in a beautiful accommodation with many Celtic and Asturian details that make it stand out even more. The house offers all possible services and the owner is charming. He welcomed us with an assortment of sweets and some c...