Follow the course of the fountain of Covadonga, which is lost between chasms under Monte Auseva, forces us to a small detour to get to find the exact point where the water mysteriously enters the mountain.
La Vega de Orandi is one of those magical places of the Asturian orography. With an evocative name, it ultimately refers to a nearby arcade. The very name of Orandi resonates deified among the rocks of the Picos de Europa, crossed by the river Deva, which etymologically supposes the personification of water in the celestial divinity of the same name. The water that heals, vivifies, animates, purifies, cleanses, and makes germinate. And next to the river Deva, Mount Auseva, perhaps from the pre-Roman root: "mount on the deified water".
The excursion is a kind of walk through the landscape near Covadonga, does not entail large differences in level and does not extend beyond four kilometers. To reach the beginning of the route we must continue from the sanctuary the road that leads to Los Lagos. At kilometer 3 we find a wide curve, to the right of which starts a path in good condition about 2 meters wide. This will be our starting point, called Moferos. The path is the PR-AS 224.
At the beginning the path is paved and ascending and runs between natural hedgerows of hazel trees, thorns and mixed forests. A few meters before reaching the Bastañar sheepfold we will find on our way a porthole through which we have to pass. Between Bastañar and Les Llaceries, a second flock, the road continues in good condition with about 2 meters wide and almost completely paved. Here the forest it is filled with holly, ash, cherry. There are also isolated specimens of beech and a large amount of scrub.
Once we arrived at La Campera Les Llaceries, we crossed the small meadow in a westerly direction, leaving behind the fountain on the right and the path of Collado Argonal on the left. The road becomes a narrow path with a lot of stone and a slight ascent that accesses the Collado Jou los Cestos. From the hill, the path passes through a forest of beech trees and turns south. We reach "La Cueñe" Les Porciles from where we can observe the Retortoriu forest, a beech forest of great importance, and we begin to descend in a southerly direction, towards an area of natural grassland called the pandal. At this point, it begins to descend in a westerly direction towards the Les Mestes - Orandi river, reaching the Vega which has a set of huts for livestock use, stables and mowing meadows.
This vega is a dream place of intoxicating silence that we have achieved without much effort. If we continue walking another little north (right) following the stream, we will reach the cave in which the water disappears to sprout in Covadonga, from where we have left and where we will return, by the same path, once we have satiated ourselves ancestral tranquility of this place.
Text: © Ramón Molleda for asturias.com
