Camín Real de la Mesa

There was a time when the Romans had a dream: it was to conquer the highest lands in the north of the Iberian Peninsula in order to enlarge their Empire. In the midst of various vicissitudes, they built a road that, on an ancient path, connected the Cantabrian land - separated by the mountain range - with the plateau. Thus was born the Camín Real de la Mesa, which throughout the Middle Ages was the main communication route for people, livestock and goods between the lands of León and Castile. As time went by, the Camín Real survived the many ups and downs of history and became part of the collective memory as one of the cultural itineraries that gave life to Asturias and created the common denominator of the area that today is known as Camín Real de la Mesa.

The ten municipalities that make up and are structured around this itinerary are culturally, scenically and naturally rich, constituting a true mosaic and catalogue of the Principality's excellence. Belmonte de Miranda glitters like the gold in its subsoil, which unleashed the greed of the Romans, who sought in this part of Asturias the necessary sustenance to manufacture the coins of the Empire, thus boosting its economy. The past can be explained and seen in the Aula del Oro or in the Roman forge called El Machuco, and in addition to the Romans, the Vaqueiros also have a presence and influence in this land of pastures, livestock and crossbreeding 'blessed' by the waters of the Pigüeña.

Candamo has two 'trademarks' that identify it anywhere in the world: its strawberries, the best fruit of its famous market garden, and the Cueva de la Peña, declared a World Heritage Site by Unesco. As in Belmonte de Miranda, a river defines its orography and its way of life, although in this case it is the longest river in Asturias, the Nalón. The neighbouring Mosconia, also called Grado, is a land with a hospitable and commercial vocation, with a powerful market garden, with a rural tradition, with Indian experiences, with a taste for culture and sport, and with a capital, the town of Grau/Grado, which has a more than entertaining Sunday market. Grado, like its neighbouring and bordering Las Regueras, is a crossroads of roads, two of the most important in history: the Primitive Way of St. James and the Camín Real de la Mesa. So much history begins in the Middle Ages to have its Christian reflection that in the case of Las Regueras is evident in the Pre-Romanesque of San Pedro de Nora and in the Romanesque of the church of Valsera.

When we enter the so-called Trubia or Bear Valleys, another itinerary is added, this time it is green and also has its history, it was the old track of a mining railway and today it is one of the most famous green routes in Spain: The Bear Path, which begins in Tuñón - where there is also a Pre-Romanesque church -, and continues through Proaza and Teverga, to finish in Quirós. Santo Adriano is also a reference point for the Xanas gorge, which extends to Pedroveya in Quirós, a municipality which was a pioneer of rural tourism in the parish of Chanuces and which is a reference point in the world of climbing with the climbing school in El Ḷḷano. In the surroundings of the Senda del Oso is also key Proaza, whose ancient capital, Banduxu, is one of the few medieval villages that are preserved in Asturias and is proof of the 'traffic' and human flows that moved between Asturias and the Meseta at that stage of history.

Brown bears are also 'neighbours' of the Camín Real de la Mesa. Teverga and Somiedo are two great bear-producing areas, where this autochthonous species is born and grows in freedom, in an ecosystem absolutely favourable for its way of life, which calls for sweet valleys, leafy forests and some mountains. Somiedo, with its valleys, its lakes, its cowboy villages like La Peral or Perlunes, its exemplary villages like Villar de Vildas, its brañas like La Pornacal and its passes like La Farrapona is a model of ecological and sustainable tourism, and the neighbouring Teverga the same, now also an Exemplary Town, proudly exhibits its Prehistoric Park, Cueva Huerta, the Collegiate Church of San Martín, the rock shelters of Fresnedo, and so many brañas, mountains, mines and passes, especially Ventana, which has been a historical connection with the Meseta.

Ten councils, including some of the smallest in Asturias, make up this central region: Belmonte de Miranda, Candamo, Grado, Las Regueras, Proaza, Quirós, Santo Adriano, Somiedo, Teverga, and Yernes y Tameza.