Cangas de Onis

April 20, 2012

two hours east by bus

There's no big rush to get going. It's raining. It's the sound of car tyres zipping along outside that gives me the news and it's after 10 o'clock when I finally climb out of bed, get dressed and lug my bike and bags downstairs then make my way along the street to the café-restaurant where I was last night.

The street in Orvieto that my hotel was on and where I also had dinner and breakfast

The sun comes out while there using the Internet, yet when I leave at gone noon the sky has turned threatening, just like it has done on and off for the past week or so. So I cruise back to Oviedo's bus station and buy a one-way ticket to Cangas de Onis, a place I know as just a dot on my map, but which for reasons unknown is a destination for buses. It's east.

It cost five euros for the bike, almost as much as my seat: strange how some companies charge and some don't. The driver asks to see the bike ticket, so it's just as well I'd mentioned it when paying the woman at the ticket counter, and the bus's hold is quite packed with suitcases and it's a matter of removing my front wheel and jigging things around to fit my bike in.

It rains along the way, as I thought it would, and it starts again when the bus pulls into the small station at nearly 3:00. I only make it about 100 metres before a hotel get my eye, just across a footbridge over the town's fast-flowing Sella River, no doubt swollen due to all the rain and which seems to form its southern border.

The single room rate is 25 euros. Deal. After a couple of hours in mine it feels about time to explore Cangas - to see why the buses come.

A superb ice cream from a shop near my hotel in Cangas

I'm surprised. The streets are lined with other places to stay, some looking pretty swish, and at the end of the main street are numerous souvenir shops selling Asturias paraphernalia.

Then there's a fine 'Roman Bridge' - which is actually medieval - and I take a few snaps, but apart from that, it's hard to determine what makes it a popular destination. My guess is it simply gives access to the Picos de Europa, which is the main reason I'm here.

Today's ride: 1 km (1 miles)
Total: 2,130 km (1,323 miles)

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