Picos Tour 2015: Soto de Sajambre to Cangas de Onis and a late afternoon ride up Covadonga

Woke up this morning and the sun was shining - no kidding. Went outside and found out there was a huge mountain behind the village that had apparently been obscured by cloud yesterday. Breakfast was the usual coffee and toasted french stick so good job we made ourselves some porridge before hand.

It was a shame to leave Sotis de Sajambre on such a bright day but at least it wasn't freezing cold for our free wheel to Cangas de Onis. After an initial steep drop the road follows the gorge all the way to Cangas. The river starts off miles below the road and is really hard to see through the vegetation. The mountains tower above the road casting a cold shadow. We kept stopping in small pools of sunlight to warm up. Two coffee stops and a quick visit to a panerea for a Tuna and tomato pastry thing finally got us into Cangas. Also a lot of stops to take photographs.

Used TripAdvisor to find a place to eat and ended up with eggs on top of a veg stew followed by loads of sausages with chips, washed down with cider. The cider is poured from a great height into the glasses but quite a lot of it spills on the ground or on the waiters shoes. About as accurate as the average drunk bloke. Good lunch though.

Slow pootle to the hotel to keep the indigestion at bay. I had a quick rest then decided to head up Covadonga since the start of it was across the road from the hotel. Thought I might just go part way up but of course went all the way - or at least to where the road seemed to run out. Lovely wild climb with great views to the north.