"TRESVISO" Tresviso by AsturArcadia

At just 16.2 km2, this is one of the smallest municipalities in Spain, and until the late 1980s, when a gravel-surfaced road (asphalted a few years later) was built from Sotres, it was also one of the most isolated. The shortest access (in terms of distance) was from Urdón on the Panes to Potes road, the footpath ascending close on 900 metres and boxing the compass in order to gain height as quickly as possible without excessive gradients. This path is very well engineered, but is only suitable for walkers and beasts of burden. Downhill from Tresviso to Urdón takes about 90 breathtaking minutes, uphill (which I have not attempted and have no desire to), probably about an hour longer. Equally breathtaking, for other reasons. Another reason for making the descent, rather than the ascent, is that the view, and not the mountainside, is in front of you for most of the way!

One of the problems with most of the popular walking routes in the Picos is that they are point-to-point, rather than circular. One could, starting from Tresviso, walk down to Urdón, then up the main Potes road as far as La Hermida, and return via the lane to Beges and the trackway thence to the Jito de Escarandi, on the road from Sotres. But it would be a long and arduous day out.