Village
Sobrescobio is one of the smallest concejos of Asturias, with about 840 residents and its capital at Rioseco since 1929; it lies in the mountainous southeastern area of the region, in the Nalón Valley mancomunidad, between Piloña and Caso to the north, Aller to the south and Laviana to the west. Its name derives from super-escopulum, 'above the escobio', after the gorge that gives access to the concejo. The relief, steeply sloped, reaches its highest point at the Retriñón peak, at 1862 metres, in the Mermeya sierra, and lies within the Redes Natural Park. The río Nalón crosses it from east to west forming the vega of Rioseco and cutting into limestone gorges harnessed by the Rioseco and Tanes dams. The route of the río Alba also passes through its territory. Sobrescobio was Exemplary Village of Asturias in 2009.
Monument
Villamorey Castle, also called the castle of the Aceales or El Torrexón, stands in ruins in the council of Sobrescobio, on a hill overlooking the upper part of the Rioseco reservoir, in the gorge that gives access to the council from Laviana, from where the Nalón valley is overlooked; today only the remains of its main tower are visible. Its origins date back to Roman times, with later alterations, the first important one in the time of Alfonso I. The first written reference is from 1185, when Ferdinand II granted it, together with all its possessions, to the Order of Santiago, which kept it until 1565. The castle appears today on the coat of arms of the council of Sobrescobio.
Monument
Founded in the 15th century and rebuilt between the end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th by Fernando de Posada, it barely preserves any remains of its original fabric. It gives its name to one of the three parishes into which the whole municipality is divided.
Monument
A church of 1805, in the early 19th century, built in historicist style, with Gothic elements and Baroque forms coexisting in the same building, in the village of Soto de Agües (parish of San Andrés de Agües), at about 430 metres altitude and three kilometres from Rioseco, in the council of Sobrescobio. Its bell tower topped with a spire and its side porch stand out. The Ruta del Alba, one of the best known Asturian hiking routes, begins and ends beside the village, and a market is held there every third Sunday of the month.
Nature
A sheet of water hemmed in between limestone walls in the middle of the Redes biosphere reserve, making use of one of the narrows of the Nalón. It is of considerable ornithological interest and acts as the upper reservoir of a pumped-storage power station buried inside the mountain.
Nature
Set downstream from Tanes and next to the municipal capital, it works as the lower reservoir of the pumped-storage station that links the two. Its shores, within the Redes natural park, are a good place for watching water birds.
Nature
At 1,862 metres it is the greatest height in the municipality and heads the Mermeya range, which drops from its summit down to the Tanes dam. Along that same line come El Moroma, La Frayá, Riegos and La Mezquita.
Curiosity
The Tanes 'Sánchez Pello' Hydroelectric Plant, operated by EDP HC Energía, was built between 1970 and 1978 inside a mountain, in the upper part of the Nalón valley, between the Tanes and Rioseco reservoirs, within Redes Natural Park; it is reached through a cave. It is a reversible plant that makes use of the water between the two reservoirs, of great ornithological interest. Its turbine hall, a large barrel vault leaving the mountain rock visible, framed with steel pillars, was designed and decorated in 1980 by Joaquín Vaquero Palacios and his son Joaquín Vaquero Turcios, with ceiling paintings symbolising the open sky; there Pilar Miró filmed «Gary Cooper que estás en los cielos». Plans are under way for the recreational and sporting use of the reservoir.
Activity
The Ruta del Alba is the PR-AS 62 short-distance path of the council of Sobrescobio, included within Redes Natural Park. For seven kilometres it follows the old mining track of the Llaímo path, closely following the course of the Alba river, from a washing place in Soto de Agües to the Cruz de los Ríos, where there is an old hunting refuge, crossing the Foces de Llaímo along the way. The route itself is listed as a natural monument by decree of 19 April 2001 and is part of the Special Protection Area for Birds and the Redes Biosphere Reserve; its fauna includes otters, golden eagles, dippers and trout, and its flora includes beeches, limes and yews.
Activity
They are held on the first weekend in October and serve a fixed menu of bread-crust soup, trout with ham, pitu de caleya and quesu casín. Along with the livestock fair at the end of September, they are the great event in the municipality's calendar.
Monument
A tower raised on a crag watching over the narrows of the Nalón; the castle is mentioned in 1185, when Fernando II granted Sobrescobio to the Order of Santiago, which held it until 1565.
Food and drink
In October the municipality devotes a food festival to free-range farmyard chicken, slowly stewed in its own blood or in sauce, accompanied by quesu casín; Sobrescobio received the Exemplary Village of Asturias award in 2009.
Activity
A circular path of about eleven kilometres that starts at Rioseco and follows the paved course known as the Roman road; it is one of the waymarked itineraries of the Redes natural park, catalogued as PR-AS 122.
Historical milestone
The concejo appears documented as early as the year 980 and its castle was handed over by Fernando II to the Order of Santiago in 1185; in 1568 the residents finally obtained a town hall of their own by bidding for the jurisdiction at auction.