Leg 2: Riano to Posada de Valdeon
Since it was still very early, none of the cafes in the town were open. We decided to skip on that caffeine dose and head on, into the big mountains.
From Riano, the N-621 splits into N-625. With both roads heading to the two different ends of the national park. Continuing on the N-621 was the direct route to the Fuente de cable car while the other one would take you on a circuit around the foothills (I’d rather say foot-mountains) and then join the N-621 again much further up north.
Being petrolheads, I think that long route vs short route decisions are ones we easily make.
I decided to take the N-625 and do the circuit and then head onto Fuente de. As road headed higher up into the ranges, the landscape slowly started changing from green to bits of green and white.
It was obvious there was going to be snow further up. Thankfully I still hadn’t changed my snow tires after coming back from the Christmas break so the only thing I had to worry about was my lack of driving skill. Finally we reached a T-junction. The N-625 going on to the left and LE-2711 to the right. Everything to the right was white, the road was narrow and had snow piled up on both sides. Time to head into the snow!
The sun trying to break out from the clouds
I had to do what I had to do. We took the LE-2711 and headed on. Soon we reached a view point, Mirado de Pandetrave. It’s a picnic spot & starting point for a hiking trail and has nice views on both sides.
Snow covered.
We headed on and after a few curves there was another viewpoint, Mirado de Valdeon. We could see a couple of tiny villages in the valley below and after a short break we hit the road again.
Hey there beautiful!
Now the roads were descending down into the valley and we passed by the villages we saw before until we reached the little town, Posada de Valdeon.
This is a small town is at the edge of the national park and beyond it the road splits into two again. One the road we were planning on taking and the other leading to Cain, a small village right in the heart of the park.
Posada de Valdeon. Imagine waking up to that view everyday.
Once again, it seemed we were a bit too early for the town and a friendly local told us we should head back to one of the small villages we passed if we wanted some breakfast.
We backtracked a kilometer or two, back to one of the villages we passed to grab some breakfast. As expected from local café in the countryside, the food was simply delicious. After a chat with the owner, we came to know that it would take much longer than we expected to reach Fuente de.
Soto de Valdeon. We had breakfast from this village.
Since these villages are located in this valley, all of them have those towering mountains in the backdrop.
It was time for a plan change. We decided to come back another day to go to Fuente de and instead complete the circuit and head back to Riano. If we had still time left, then we would go on to the San Isidro ski station, get a bit of skiing/snowboarding done and head back home.