22,4 kmDistance+330 mAscent−340 mDescent25,7 kmEffort8 hTime needed · On foot
Pendueles, the bufones and Llanes
The first entirely Asturian stage: 22.4 kilometres with 330 metres of ascent and 340 of descent, moderate difficulty, and one of the most beautiful on the whole coast. You leave Colombres on tracks between meadows, pass La Franca, with its beach in a small inlet, and Buelna, and reach Pendueles in the first third, where there are bars and a church that gives stamps.
At Pendueles you have to decide: the official route runs inland beside the road, while the coastal path goes along the cliff tops, among grassland, coves and bufones, the holes through which the sea blows and sprays at high tide and in a swell. The coastal option is longer and slower, over grass and rock, and it is the one worth taking if the weather allows. It passes Vidiago, with its beach and the bufones of Santiuste, and goes on to Andrín.
From Andrín you climb the last rise and drop to Cue and Llanes, a seafaring town with an old quarter, a medieval tower, a harbour with the painted Cubos de la Memoria and several beaches. Llanes has every service and a great deal of life in summer.
Tips
Leave with a full bottle: there are no fountains on the coastal path before Vidiago.
If you take the coast, check the tides: the bufones only sound at high tide and with a swell running.
Wear shoes that grip for the path over grass and rock; it is slippery in the rain.
Book ahead in Llanes in summer; it is one of the busiest towns in Asturias in August.
In stormy weather do not go near the bufones or the edge of the cliffs: the sea comes up through them with real force.
Where am I?
Your phone says where you are; the guide tells you how far is left and where the next water is.
Your position is used to answer you and is not stored anywhere.
Walk with me
It crosses where you are with the time, the daylight left, the water, the beds and the notice board. Three things at most: the ones that actually change your afternoon.
112 is the same number in Spain, in Portugal and across the European Union. It works with no credit, with no SIM, and over any operator's network, not just yours.
Say where you are
I am walking the Camino del Norte, on the stage from Colombres to Llanes.