Crossing the River Piloña at Sevares to start the walk
We call this our country villages and rural heritage walk as it takes you along quiet country lanes and farm tracks passing through small hamlets and gentle rolling countryside, giving you an insight into Asturian rural life and a slower pace of life. I developed this walk almost 10 years ago and it’s always been very popular with guests, it was even featured in The Telegraph in 2007.
The drive to the manor house lined with plane trees
The walk starts with a short train journey on the narrow gauge railway from Arriondas to Sevares and despite being mid November the temperatures were in the mid 20’s. From the railway station in Sevares you cross over the River Piloña and then start walking up a narrow road lined with plane trees to the impressive manor house “El Palacio de Sevares.” This belongs to one of the wealthy land owners of the area and the estate has a very noble feel about it as well as good views of the Picos.
View of the Sueve mountains from near Cua
The track carries on around the estate passing some of the properties the estate owners converted into rental cottages back in the nineties in the early years of Austrian rural tourism. As you carry on the views change towards the Sueve and then you come into the village of Cua with an interesting church and bar. I saw an old farmer raking leaves into piles on the edge of his field and then a small tractor slowly passed me, piled high with raked leaves. No doubt he would be taking the leaves to his stable where they would be used as bedding for the animals over the winter.
Traditional hay stacks near Uncal
From Cua the track follows a stream to another farm house which has sadly been sandwiched between two high tension pylons. Next is the only part of the walk where the tracks are slightly less defined but you soon come to a more defined track leading to another farmhouse. Again you get this lovely feeling of traditional farming as you pass by conventional hay stacks, with a centre pole and hay piled high around it. You come to another bar “Uncal” conveniently placed to enjoy some refreshment (which I did) and then on a short section of road before more tracks and hamlets.
The watermill "La Teyera"
You soon pass the water mill “La Teyera” the only mill in the area which still grinds maize for flour. It’s a 20 meter detour to see the mill but well worth it. This time there were various bags of maize just left outside of the mil waiting for Juan the miller to come and grind the maize for flour. I’ve spoken with him on previous occasions and he told me that he takes one eight of the flour in weight as his fee. You follow a track and soon come to Santo Thomas del Collado with Cesar’s house and his 55 beehives. His wife and daughter came out to talk to me as they saw me walk past. They told me how little honey they had harvested this year only 70 kgs from their 55 hives and that lots of people were complaining of low yields this year and of hives dyeing.
Inside the water mill
From here you can see the hotel straight in front of you, but to reach it you have to walk done to the church cross the river and then walk back up our farm before you can sit and enjoy a drink on the terrace. I hadn’t done this walk for almost two year and had forgotten just how enjoyable it was.
Technical Information
Profile Sevares to Hotel Posada del Valle
Map Sevares to Hotel Posada del Valle
Download GPS trail from wikiloc
Self guided walking notes and GPS trail available for guests from the hotel
| Type of walk | Circular or A to B |
| Starting Point | Hotel / Arriondas |
| Finishing Point | Hotel |
| Acces | Involves walking from hotel to Arriondas |
| Public transport options | Uses narrow gauge train from Arriondas to Sevares |
| Grading | Medium |
| Total Length | 14 km from Hotel, 9 ½ km from Sevares |
| Total Ascent | 340 m |
| Altitude | 70 – 170 m |
| Total Walking time | 3 ½ hours from Sevares 5 hours from Hotel |
| Terrain | Mostly country farm tracks |
| Navigation | Easy |
| Refreshments | Bars at Uncal, Arriondas and Sevares |
| Map | Mapa Topográfico nacional de España; Arriondas |
