Route of the Molín de Valbona

Pola de Allande - Figueras 5,2

The route starts in Pola de Allande itself, next to the municipal swimming pool, where we can leave our car and start the walk. It was renovated in 2012 and has informative signs that will make the route easier.

This path links Pola de Allande with the town of Figueras and has several diversions that give access, among others, to the Valbona mill. After barely 200 metres, there is a turn-off to the right and another one in the same direction a little further on; continue straight on in both cases.

After about 700 metres, we turn left and begin a slight climb that continues for about a kilometre; at this point, we start to descend, a perfect descent to enjoy the tranquillity of the forest. Shortly after a kilometre and a half of the route, we come across the old mill of the village of Valbona, which is located next to the river Nisón.

To reach it, we turn off the main path a little to the right, and after about two and a half kilometres, we come to the xoxas, circular constructions where chestnuts were once stored to preserve them during the winter.

In other areas of Asturias these rooms are called cuerrias, but they served the same purpose, that of storing chestnuts. There is also a footbridge over the river Nisón that gives access to the AS-14 road.

When we reach kilometre 3 of the route, we can enjoy the chestnut tree of Casa el Rey, a chestnut tree that is approximately five hundred years old. Ethnography never ceases to surprise us on this walk, and at around kilometre 3.7 we come across a lime kiln; this is an old kiln that was used to bake the limestone from the surrounding area to obtain lime.
When you come out into the clearing between these woods, you will see a path that leads off to the right, almost towards the back, and a signpost that is sometimes obscured. Be careful not to overlook it. Turn right and, after approximately 5 kilometres, you will reach the village of Figueres.

From here we can return along the same path, return along another branch of the route or, if we had two vehicles ready, drive back to Pola de Allande.

Leaving Pola de Allande itself, the route runs largely parallel to the Pola river and takes us back to the past, to times of rural engineering and changes in the landscape. It is a route where nature covers everything, and where we see the human hand everywhere.

The plantations of young chestnut trees alternate with the cabornios, old chestnut trees that were pruned to be used but still alive and producing, we find Xoxas, as they are called in this area of Asturias to the constructions to preserve chestnuts, even a restored flour mill and also an old lime kiln, a construction to produce lime with limestone rock.

The modernisation of the times has led to the abandonment of some of these old constructions and also to a change in the use of the land, so that today it is pine forests that are responsible for timber production in the area.

A route to enjoy the lower area of the western mountain and its nature up to the village of Figueras.