La Franca Beach is undoubtedly the most attractive and accessible beach of all the beaches of the council, and therefore the beach par excellence of Ribadedeva. It is, in turn, the easternmost beach in Asturias, and its name seems to derive from the Middle Ages. At that time, in the ports of Llanes and San Vicente, merchandise had to be unloaded five leagues to the east and west. La Franca, being right in the middle of both and outside their radius of influence, It was used by clever merchants who unloaded their merchandise "francas de alcábala", that is, free of taxes, with the consequent disgust and protest of the two ports.
But the semantics of this beach also extends to its landscape frankness, because it is one of the most beautiful and wide of the Cantabrian Cornice, which has the Blue flag of quality of the European Community, reason why it is "free" also in cleaning and beach services.
During the high tide it becomes an authentic natural pool, being very safe for bathing, for children and unbeatable for practicing water sports, rock and underwater fishing. At low tide a wide sandy area is discovered and small coves rich in fishing are formed. Its very fine sand occupies an area of 73.000 square meters at low tide, with a front of 260 meters cut by the mouth of the river Cabra.
The first inhabitants of the prehistory They already used it as an improvised home to serve as shelter and food. Very close to the beach there are several caves. In them we discover shell shells, shell deposits of mollusks that show that they were inhabited in ancient times.
For the contemporary man, the Franca continues to be a refuge, in this case a refuge, easily accessible, for free time.
At low tide, the Franca annexes some other sandy territory, such as the beach of the Bear, a small cove that at low tide is communicated with it, or that of Regorgueru, another natural beach of more difficult access. This is also reached at low tide from the beach of La Franca or down a steep path from the neighboring town of Pimiango.
The Beach is integrated into the Protected Landscape of the Eastern Coast. The nine kilometers of coastline -mostly cliffs- of the municipality of Ribadedeva unfold between the beach itself and the Tina Mayor estuary, at the mouth of the River Deva. Between these two limits are La Punta la Cebollera and Santu Medé. The Eastern foothills of the Sierra de Cuera They are also part of this Protected Landscape and give the landscape of the beach one more attraction.
The Sierra de Cuera
The Sierra de Cuera is a first stage to plan routes and excursions at any time of the ...
Information:
La Franca beach has signposted access on the N-634 between the towns of Santiuste and La Franca. If you are driving in the direction of Llanes-Ribadedeva you have to pay attention to soften the speed from Buelna, since the detour suddenly appears in a tight corner and forces you to make a sharp turn. Once this branch is taken, 1 kilometer is traveled until reaching the beach.
Text: © Ramón Molleda for asturias.com
