Path of the Guadamía River

Latitude: 43.4530907 Length: -4.9764204
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The trail follows the ancient coastal route, or Via Maritima of Agrippa, which once traversed the entire Cantabrian coast. The Guadamía River, between the towns of Llames de Pría and Cuerres , the natural border between the municipalities of Ribadesella and Llanes, is pleasantly followed along the remains of this ancient Roman road (and its branches), crossing three ancient stone bridges, modernized in the Middle Ages, and passing up to four watermills of significant cultural interest. The river itself is also an open-air natural museum, lined with a riparian forest dominated by native trees and dotted with small waterfalls and cascades. During our walk, we observed trout, eels, reptiles, and amphibians.

Start of the trail: Llames de Pría

Good footwear is necessary in case of mud or slippery wet stones. The PR-AS-264 short-distance trail (dedicated to its late designer, Samuel Cachero) starts and finishes in the town square of Llames de Pría , next to its chapel. From there, we head south along the road to the beautiful village of Cuerres (a hamlet on the Camino de Santiago). After about a kilometer on the asphalt, a signposted branch leads off to the right. Shortly after, we cross the river via a medieval bridge (with Roman foundations). We climb a small hill to the west, leaving the village of Cuerres behind. We continue north, passing a small waterfall, cross a meadow, and follow the Guadamía River along its left bank, soon arriving at an old mill. We crossed the riverbed several times (via newly installed modern footbridges) and saw two more Roman bridges, partially covered by vegetation, as well as old watermills and some cobbled remains of the Roman road. After a little over half an hour, we reached the Guadamía river beach , an unusual and beautiful beach nestled between two headlands jutting out into the sea. From here, a paved path led us back to the town square of Llames de Pría, where we started, in just 15 minutes.

Routes from the beach of Guadamía

Once on the beach, it's worth taking a couple of short walks to unique spots to admire the rugged coastline of this area. To the west of the beach, in the municipality of Ribadesella, you can visit the cliffs of Castroarenes, where there's a recreation area with tables and grills. Following the marked path that starts from the recreation area, you'll come across the so-called " dry pools " scattered throughout the landscape. These pools have a large perimeter, and the rocks, like pointed battlements, are arranged concentrically, leaving a dark bottom in the center where the waves crash. The sea enters these spaces even though some are quite far from the cliff. In some cases, they form veritable natural pools.

The second route we can take from the beach leads us a little further east, into the municipality of Llanes. The trail also continues to these second set of cliffs once we leave the beach behind. Here we'll find information panels about the famous blowholes , or bufones. If the sea is calm, the vents in the underground cavities simply expel the air compressed in the galleries by the pounding waves. On days with heavy swells, however, water and air are expelled with great force, reaching heights of tens of meters.

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Under the magnificent cliffs are narrow inlets with breaking waves. We see the rocky walls of about fifteen meters high falling vertically on the sea, and behind us, behind the wide rasa where the horses graze, the Cantabrian mountain range is outlined.