Alto La Llama - Majada de Espineres
- Piloña Eastern Asturias
- Distance: 8,9 kms
- Difficulty: Short
- Altitude: 994 m.
- Unevenness: 443 m.
- On foot: 3 h. Round trip
- Start point: Alto La Llama
- Tour type: Round trip
- Layout of the route: Download kml, Download gpx
Info
If there is one place in Asturias linked to the Asturcón horse, our native breed par excellence, that place is the sheepfold of Espineres, in the Sierra del Sueve, a place that was chosen to hold the Asturcón Festival when there were so few purebred horses left that a recovery plan was needed.
Espineres is a green hollow, surrounded by the grey limestone rock with which its huts are built and in which the hawthorn or espinera, which gives its name to the place, stands out above all. To get here, along a wide track, is a walk of just over 4 kilometres of continuous ascent that offers views of the councils of Colunga, Villaviciosa and Gijón and also of the Sierra del Aramo, Oviedo, Siero... in an amalgam of sea and mountains.
Asturcones and fallow deer, among the mammals; griffon vultures, Egyptian vultures and choughs and choughs, among the birds, are some of the species of fauna that can be seen.
Without doubt, the views from the route or from the surrounding mountains give us one of the best panoramic views in Asturias, although we must bear in mind that in this area there are no marked itineraries and the fog rolls in easily.
Route
Alto La Llama - Majada de Espineres 8,7
This route starts at the Alto de la Llama, AS-248. We can leave the vehicle in the car park next to it. We find a wide dirt track that leads off in a west-east direction and takes us to the famous Majada de Espineres.
A few metres after starting, there is a crossroads; we follow the track straight ahead to reach the "majada", which is a field with many huts and "espineras", hence its name.
Half a kilometre into the route, we come to another turning on the right, but we continue straight on. The initial stretch is uphill through chestnut and oak woods and meadows with horses and cattle grazing freely.
After another 600 metres, kilometre 1.1, there is another turning to the right, and we continue along the track. From this point, we can see the councils of Colunga, Villaviciosa and Piloña, and sometimes we can even see the Villaviciosa estuary. Approximately one kilometre further on, we come to two more deviations to the right, but we will ignore them.
We have been walking for about 3.5 kilometres from the start and we reach the Alto la Cruz, where we can observe a total change in the landscape, which becomes karstic, with abundant dolines of different sizes. The dolines are depressions typical of limestone formations.
A few metres further on, kilometre 4, we find the María Mingo cross, and near a nearby hut there is a watering place where the deer that live in the area usually go to drink.
At the end of the route, at kilometre 4.5, we reach the famous Majada de Espineres, where we can see various huts and stables, some of which are very well preserved.
Every year an event is held in the area called the Fiesta del Asturcón - a small, rustic, native Asturian horse - in which an attempt is made to tame the adult wild horses and to mark the wild foals born that year.