What better way to soak up the delights of the nature paradise that is Asturias than from its vantage points? Following is our selection of the ten best strategic points in the region affording the loveliest angles of that beautiful countryside. Take note!

1. La Regalina (Valdés)
Chosen by the Guía Repsol as “El Mejor Rincón de 2013” (The Best Spot of 2013), the hermitage of La Regalina in Cadavedo (Valdés) consists of the hermitage proper and two hórreos (a traditional granary raised on pillars). Here you can enjoy exceptional views of Ribeirona beach and the rest of the seaboard (designated a “Protected West Coast Landscape”) which you can photograph and share on social networks.

2. Cabo Vidio (Cudillero)
Located between Cudillero and Luarca, two picturesque fishing villages, lies Cape Vidio. This vantage points affords fabulous panoramic views of cliff faces, beaches and the sea, all of which come under the Protected West Coast Landscape designation. But, there’s more – at low tide you can see the Cueva de la Iglesiona, a sea cave carved out by the Cantabrian waves at the base of the cliff. It can be visited, as long as you do so in the company of a guide.

3. Mirador del Espíritu Santo (Muros del Nalón)
This lookout is part of the “ruta de los miradores” (route of the viewpoints), a 6-kilometre-long coastal path running from the former mining port of San Esteban de Pravia to Aguilar beach blessed with some spectacular panoramas. The viewpoint is reached after having passed San Esteban de Pravia and the access to the seawater pool on the banks of the river Nalón. One of its highlights is the view of the mouth of the Nalón, framed between the Playa de los Quebrantos and the Playón de Bayas.

4. Cape Peñas (Gozón)
Cape Peñas, located in Gozón (Protected Cape Peñas Landscape), in the northernmost area of Asturias, is one of the most popular spots in the region. Apart from hiking across the headland to soak up the excellent views of the cliffs, visitors can also drop in on the Centro de Recepción de Visitantes e Interpretación del Medio Marino de Peñas (Peñas Marine Environment Interpretation and Visitor Reception Centre), housed in the Peñas lighthouse.

5. Mirador de San Roque (Colunga)
The San Roque viewpoint is located In the vicinity of Lastres, the village where the popular Spanish television comedy drama, “Doctor Mateo”, was filmed. The vantage point affords magnificent panoramic vistas of a combination of sea and mountains, including the beaches of the so-called “Costa de los Dinosaurios” (Dinosaur Coast) – on account of the presence of fossilised dinosaur imprints – with the Sierra del Sueve and the Picos de Europa in the background. What more could you want?

6. Mirador del Fitu
Are you seeking a panoramic view combining both the Cantabrian Sea and the Picos de Europa? Then you should head for the Cruz de Llames pass, between Colunga and Arriondas, site of the Fitu observation platform with its characteristic concrete balcony. The views from here attest to the contrasting beauty of the Asturian landscape. And, while you’re at it, take a stroll towards Picu Pienzu where you can continue to enjoy the panoramic views.

7. Picos de Europa Viewpoints
The following viewpoints are sited in the Picos de Europa National Park. From there, you can observe the iconic Picu Urriellu, also known as Naranjo de Bulnes, in all its splendour, including the various nuances of colour it takes on at sunset. The viewpoints are Pozo de la Oración, in Poo de Cabrales; Pedro Udaondo, in Asiego, and Camarmeña, also in the municipality of Cabrales.

Other viewpoints worth seeking out in the Park are the ones near the Lagos de Covadonga, notably La Reina, Entrelagos and Ordiales. Any of these affords a sublime picture postcard view of the Picos de Europa.

8. Mirador de Torimbia (Llanes)
This viewpoint is on the so-called “Llanes de cine” route, which connects the various locations where films and television series have been shot. This lookout has an interesting touch – a director’s chair from which to contemplate the spectacular vistas. Located near Niembro, between the beaches of Torimbia and Toranda, a short walk from the lookout will lead you down to the Llanes beaches of San Antolín and Gulpiyuri.

9. Mirador del Picu (Ribadedeva)
Located on the eastern edge of Asturias is the Mirador del Picu, in Pimiango, with striking views of both the beautiful “Protected East Coast Landscape” and the Sierra del Cuera and Picos de Europa – Picu Uriellu is visible on a clear day from here. While you’re there, take the opportunity to visit El Pindal Cave, a World Heritage Site on account of its cave paintings, and then head for the hermitage of San Emeterio.

10. Urban Viewpoints
One way of viewing the cities of Asturias is from their vantage points. In Oviedo, be sure to head for the Mirador de Naranco, from where you can also visit two pre-Romanesque Asturian gems, Santa María del Naranco and San Miguel de Lillo, both World Heritage Sites. The best panoramic view of Avilés is from the Mirador de la Luz, where the city and estuary are the star sights. And, should you happen to be in Gijón, don’t miss out on the Cape San Lorenzo viewpoint, with a concrete silhouette resembling a ship’s keel from where you can see the town of Jovellanos and its beaches.

Text by Turismo Asturias

Por Michael Schuermann de Easy Hiker

London is a great city for hikers. For one because there are so many scenic trails and nature reserves near-by – the Ridgeway, the South Downs Way, the New Forest – and for another because they are all so easy and convenient to reach by what is probably the world’s best public transport system. (I know the London urban and suburban rail networks get a lot of stick, but I still have to find another city in the world where it is as easy to get around even if you have no car.)

We will spend more time in London in the near future and intend to explore the walking trails of the area in some detail, although the more serious hiking trips will have to wait until the spring.

For the time being, however, we will keep things simple and start you off this week with two short walksalong the Thames, one in the east and one in the west, each roughly two to three hours long, allowing you to set out late, after a leisurely breakfast on a weekend for example, and still be back in time “for tea” to watch the afternoon soccer game “on the telly”. Are you still with me, “guv”?

Ghosts of London Past

Wapping in the east of the city has always been my favourite part of “walking London”. I have done this walk several times over the past twenty years or so, but it was never the same walk – because the area has changed and still changes so quickly.

This stretch of London – between the Tower and Greenwich – was once the most important hub of global trade, the place where shiploads after shiploads of coffee, tobacco and sugar from the British colonies arrived on their way to the European consumers.

The London docks were abandoned in the 1960s, and the area lay fallow, a barren industrial wasteland, for twenty years before it was redeveloped in the 1980s. When I came here first, a little over twenty years ago, this process was still very much ongoing, and the “docklands” at the time were a surreal blend of derelict industrial buildings, waste dumps, modern office developments and handsome 19th century mansions.

Nowadays, the docklands are very trendy and chic, but they are still nothing like similarly trendy and chic areas of West London. They are, for one, much less lively. Wapping High Street is a residential area, but when we went there, on a Saturday around lunchtime, we were almost the only people in the street, give or take the odd jogger. Between old warehouses, centuries-old taverns and narrow stairways that lead down to the river, you feel that ghosts are walking with you every step of the way.

Our walk starts at St. Katharine Docks in the back of Tower Hill station. Walk down the stairs on your left hand side, turn left in front of the moat of the Tower of London and simply follow the signs.

The three basins of St. Katharine Docks were developed in the 1820s when one of the largest London slums – with over 10,000 inhabitants – was razed to the ground. (The rubble of the destroyed dwellings, ironically, was used to lay the foundations for one of London’s most luxurious property development projects in Belgravia.)

The St. Katharine Docks were never a great commercial success – the gates to the river Thames were too narrow, preventing larger ships from entering – and, having been heavily bombed in WWII, never fully rebuilt and gradually abandoned.

They became, however, also the first of the London docks to be redeveloped as a leisure-plus-retail facility and the blueprint for all such projects since, in the capital and all across Britain. They are a very pretty sight indeed, particularly on a sunny day. (Unfortunately, we were not quite so lucky on our walk.)

Leave St. Katharine Docks in the back of the Dickens Inn through Thomas More Street and turn left into Wapping High Street along the Thames. Look out for Wapping Pier Head, two early 19th century brick buildings that were erected right on the entrance to the docks to accommodate leading dock officials and their families …

… and, a few houses down the road, the ancient Town of Ramsgate pub. The Wapping Old Stairs beside the pub – they lead down to the river – are said to be haunted: for many men, convicts on their way to Australia and drunks who were imprisoned in the pub’s cellar before being “press-ganged” into the navy, these stairs would have been the last things they ever saw of England.

A little further on, in the garden next to the modern HQ of the London River Police, the City of London used to execute pirates – not removing their bodies before three high tides had washed over them, as a kind of deterrent presumably. The infamous Captain Kidd was hanged here in 1701, and a couple of blocks down, there is a pub that was named in his honour. (Go check it out. It has stunning views over the Thames.)

Continue past some more old warehouses before turning right into Wapping Wall – look for London’s oldest riverside pub, the Prospect of Whitby – and crossing the bridge into Shadwell. (Another modern development, called Shadwell Basin, appears on your left.)

Immediately after the bridge, turn right in the direction of King Edward VII Memorial Park, and continue by the bank of the river with some spectacular views of Canary Wharf in the distance.

Turn left into Spert Street for Limehouse Basin, where this walk ends. There is a DLR station on your left hand side from where the trains of the “Docklands Light Railway” take you back into the centre of London within a few minutes.

By Michael Schuermann de Easy Hiker 

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“Everyone tells me I ought to get some exercise, that it’s good for my health. But, I have never heard anyone telling a sportsperson they ought to do some reading.”  This statement by Saramago prompted me to emphasise here the importance of striking a balance between tourist or sporting hyperactivity while travelling, and living out the experiences of others. Yes, friends, this is the advice of a hyperactive person – it does no harm to occasionally plan rest periods into one’s journeys, or to deploy a few good phrases as a mantra for competing. Indeed, Mr Saramago, you were dead right – you can also travel through reading, when your mind can find some rest, while in sport, not everything is physical. But, why Saramago in a post about Lanzarote? I found out – and high time it was too, for someone who has travelled to the island so often – that the Nobel prize-winning writer had spent his final years on Lanzarote. There, in the village of Tías, you will come across “A Casa” as he liked to call his home. Lanzarote was Saramago’s other homeland. “A whole lifetime to get here”, he announced, when he settled on this southerly island. The landscape of Lanzarote, the volcanoes, its warm nights, the peacefulness and the island’s inhabitants led him to write many of his articles, novels and diaries at his home in the Tías municipality. As the illustrious writer asserted, “This is not my land, this land of mine”, a phrase shown on the sculpture as a homage to him in front of “A casa” and “La Biblioteca”, as his house museum is known. Each and every object in “A Casa” has a special meaning – an olive tree to recall the country of his birth, or the clocks all set to 4 o’clock, as it was at that time he met his widow, Pilar. They all go to make this museum a happy, special place.

We cannot summarise all his work here, but we can choose three phrases that come in handy as motivating mantras at training sessions and competitions:

- There is something inside us with no name, and that is what we really are.

- There is something positive in defeat – it is never lasting. Triumph, however, has something negative – it is never lasting.

- We always end up arriving where someone is waiting for us.

After this short introduction about Saramago and his ties to the island, I must report that I flew to Lanzarote in March to compete in the tri122 de Costa Teguise. This is a triathlon I had advised you to consider, together with the Challenge Fuerteventura (April), as possible warm-up races for the Ironman Lanzarote, which is held in May each year, starting and finishing in Puerto del Carmen. The tri122 event went off well, without incident, although it was windy. The swim took place off the Playa de las Cucharas (where we went windsurfing the next day); the bike course had been altered from previous years, while the foot race was along the esplanade. My advice for this race would be very similar to the pointers I gave you in the Ironman Lanzarote post, so I won’t go into any detail there. For accommodation, I decided to stay at the Barceló, which is right on the Costa Teguise. I was pleasantly surprised to learn first-hand that they would soon have a better, specific programme for sportspeople in their facilities, given that, unlike the opposite side of the island, which we visited on the previous trip, here you can do open-water swimming, something we triathletes appreciate. In short, if you’re looking for wind and waves, the area of Famara is great and, to swim, windsurf and enjoy the beach, Costa Teguise would be the best option.

On a gastronomic note, this time I would choose two proposals:

- Before the race, a good choice for stocking up on carbohydrates is Portobello. Listen up – this is a markedly family setup based on homemade Italian food. Noteworthy is the fact that the owner was kind and helpful.

- The second proposal, for after the race, is La Bohemia. I believe it’s the best place in the Costa Teguise area. Their meat and roast are delicious and the service is excellent and friendly. Don’t worry, if you don’t eat meat, there are many other dishes to choose from on the menu.

As for the visits listed in the previous posting, we overlooked some of the island’s “great hits”, which I can reveal here – Playa de Jablillos, Playa Mujeres, Playa de Papagallo and Lago Verde. They are all splendid options for strolling and switching off, and even for reading! Also, if you like diving, there are facilities to discover scuba diving on the same beach where we went windsurfing.

You might ask: if I’m interested in sport in Lanzarote, are there any other interesting competitions on the island? Well, yes – there is the 70.3 Lanzarote on 19 September, and the 4 stage Mountain Bike and La Santa Duathlon in January. After these recommendations in two different Lanzarote posts, we’ll soon be hopping to another island, as I’m starting to get curious about hiking trails. Both Trans Gran Canaria, which takes place from 4 to 6 March 2016, and Transvulcania en la Palma, in May, are important enough on the international running calendar to be considering them when planning for next season.

Did you sign up for Ironman Lanzarote in the end? Book your ticket here if you’ve enrolled, or go for another date if you want to find out why everyone is training or competing in the Canary Islands.

Text by Raúl Casañas

Images by Ginés Díaz, Jules/Lanzarote InformacionTabayesco, Idoia Núñez

If there’s one striking thing about Asturias it is the beauty of its landscape – the power of nature here. Asturias is, above all, nature in its pure state, but imbued with a deep-rooted awareness of environmental conservation, making it emblematic and pioneering in its drive to preserve its natural surroundings. This is why a third of its surface area is protected by one or other legal conservation provision, making it a veritable nature paradise, as proclaimed by the slogan which has now been running for thirty years.

Asturias is one great open-air nature park, unique in the world. Not for nothing does it boast six Biosphere Reserves, as listed by UNESCO, making it one of the world’s privileged territories in terms of natural spaces. These are the spaces to be hiked and enjoyed in your leisure time.

The Parque Nacional de los Picos de Europa, set in the Cordillera Cantábrica mountain range: this vast territory encompasses the areas of Amieva, Cangas de Onís, Onís, Cabrales, Peñamellera Alta and Peñamellera Baja. Its uniqueness, beauty and scenic, natural and geological interest led this territory to be declared the Picos de Europa National Park by King Alfonso XIII in 1918, while its western reaches once formed the first national park in Spain, that of Montaña de Covadonga. The Picos de Europa are the largest limestone formation on Europe’s Atlantic seaboard, featuring major karst processes – a type of relief set up by chemical meteorisation of certain rocks, notably limestone, dolomite and gypsum – chasms over 1,000 metres deep, pronounced glacial erosion and the presence of lakes. Here, chamois roam the crags, while the dense forest is home to roe deer, wolves and the occasional bear. The Park also boasts over a thousand bird species, prominent among which are the black woodpecker and capercaillie, with the griffon vulture and golden eagle as the major birds of prey. But, here you will find more than just nature, as centuries of history have been written in the villages, valleys and churches, in the mountain pass shelters and trails.

The Parque Natural de Somiedo is a distinct example of coexistence between man and nature, where the former has come to understand nature and preserve it virtually intact over the centuries. Noteworthy landmarks here are the beautiful lakes, the rugged landscape, with drops of up to 2,200 metres, and the karst formations. Significant, too, are the brañas, fertile pasturelands where you might just get a glimpse of the famous cabanas de teito – stone dwellings with thatched straw or broom roofs used by thevaqueiros or mountain cowherds and stock breeders as shelters.

The environmental wealth of the Parque Natural de Redes is attested by a host of different landscapes, from formations of glacial origin such as moraine and cirques to broad pasturelands, hills and lush forests. In effect, 40% of the surface area of Redes is wooded, although it is also graced by lofty peaks, notably Pico Torres, Retriñón, Peña del Viento and Tiatordos. However, the most striking feature of Redes is its stunning meadows hemmed in by mountain buttresses, its gorges and its forests, where beech and white oak prevail.

The Parque Natural de Las Ubiñas-La Mesa, situated in southern and central Asturias, harbours priceless natural and cultural wealth. It includes mountain relief with marked contrasts which, hard by the border with León, rises to the Peña Ubiña massif, the second highest mountain range in the region after the Picos de Europa, with altitudes of over 2,400 metres. The Park takes in the municipalities of Lena, Quirós and Teverga which form part of the Somiedo Regional Hunting Preserve.

The Reserva Natural Integral de Muniellos lies within the Parque Natural de las Fuentes del Narcea y del Ibias. Muniellos is a sparsely populated territory, with one of the lowest population densities in Asturias. Its three valleys of Muniellos, La Viliella and Valdebois boast Spain’s largest oak forest and one of the best preserved in Europe. Ever-changing, it epitomises the Asturian landscape throughout the seasons of the year – various species of oak, up to six metres in diameter, beech and birch forest, dotted with holly and yew trees, the evergreen kings of autumn in Muniellos. The ascent to its lakes is one of the most popular trails among hiking enthusiasts.

The Oscos-Eo District, where the river Eo is the great protagonist as landscape-builder and articulator of the territory. A land of beaches, cliffs, forests and enormous ethnographic wealth, a landscape which has suffered the consequences of centuries-long isolation but has nevertheless provided the bedrock for sustainability and rural tourism projects in which preservation of the local heritage is uppermost in their development.

Asturias, from Biosphere Reserve to Biosphere Reserve, is a great option for a relaxing getaway. You can also make the most of its boundless nature by participating in dozens of open-air activities: canoeing, horse-riding, mountain bike trails, caving, canyoning and trekking, just some of the ways of immersing yourself in this paradise.

Don’t miss out on this paradise on earth – check out our flights here.

Text and images by Turismo Asturias