10km of well-maintained path (formerly a service track for a HEP scheme) high above the Rio Cares between Poncebos and Cain constitute, perhaps unfortunately, the most popular mountain walk in Spain. The Lonely Planet describes walking it in August 'can feel like a Saturday morning on London's Oxford St.'  However, we were undeterred and were rewarded with a magnificent and at times vertiginous excursion along the gorge separating the Picos' western and central massifs.

The walk wasnn't particularly taxing with the only climb a steady one at the start out of Poncebos, a tiny straggle of buildings, in to the wide and mostly bare early stages of the gorge . Gradually the gorge became narrower and its walls thick with vegetation, creating greater contrast with the alpine heights above. The last stages of the walk were probably the prettiest; as we descended nearer the valley floor, we passed through a series of low, wet tunnels to emerge at the end of the gorge among the meadows of Cain. 

 A tremendous day.

A final culinary speciality of the Picos is the ultra-tangy blue cheeses made with untreated cow's-milk cheese and matured in mountain caves. Sophie quite enjoyed trying these; Sam rather less so.

Onward bus to Oviedo, via Arenas de Cabrales and Cangas de Onis, to Oviedo - 2.5hrs.