Logbook · 5 places

What to see and do in Peñamellera Baja

What to see and do in Peñamellera Baja (Oriente, Asturias): 5 places across monuments, nature, activities and curiosities, with a photo and a Google Maps location.

1 Villages · 4 Nature

How far each place is from the centre of Peñamellera Baja

Towns near Peñamellera Baja

What to see in Peñarrubia 5.8 km · 7 places
What to see in Ribadedeva 7.3 km · 4 places
What to see in Tresviso 8.5 km · 5 places
What to see in Herrerías 9.9 km · 7 places
What to see in Peñamellera Alta 10 km · 4 places
What to see in Lamasón 10 km · 4 places
What to see in Val de San Vicente 11 km · 8 places
What to see in Cillorigo de Liébana 14 km · 7 places

Spain › Principality of Asturias › Oriente › Peñamellera Baja

What to see and do in Peñamellera Baja

Peñamellera Baja
Village
Peñamellera Baja is a concejo of Asturias, in the east of the region, with its capital at Panes, next to the confluence of the Cares and Deva rivers. It has a little over 1,190 inhabitants; part of its territory, including the Cuera mountain range, is protected, and nearly half of employment remains tied to the land, with traditional livestock farming and agriculture that were at one time exempted from taxes on livestock sales by a privilege of King Charles II, and with artisan cheeses such as the Monje. Its history was linked to that of Peñamellera Alta until the two concejos split in 1869; centuries earlier, in the late Middle Ages, the valley was divided into charters and lordships. From prehistoric times is the cave of La Loja, which preserves Magdalenian engravings of horses and bison.
Gorge of La Hermida
Nature
At twenty-two kilometres, the longest gorge in Spain, cut by the río Deva -which rises in the glacial cirque of Fuente Dé, in the Picos de Europa- between limestone walls that in some stretches exceed 600 metres. It forms part of the Ándara massif and runs from Panes, in Asturias, to Castro Cillórigo, in Cantabria, also crossing the Cantabrian municipalities of Lamasón, Cillorigo de Liébana, Peñarrubia and Tresviso. It is the only entry corridor from the Cantabrian coast to the Liébana region, crossed by the narrow N-621 road, which traces 174 bends. A strip of 6,350 hectares is protected as a special protection area for birds, and holm oaks and cork oaks grow at the bottom of the gorge alongside beeches and oaks.
Cave of la Loja
Nature
The La Loja cave lies near the río Deva, on the outskirts of the village of El Mazo, two kilometres from Panes. Discovered in 1908 and published in 1911, it was one of the first known Asturian rock-art sites: after entering a gallery about a hundred metres long, halfway along and four metres up, a stretch of wall painted black appears, on which six animal figures were drawn in white -four bulls and two others whose state of preservation does not allow identification.
Cave of la Loja
Nature
The cave of La Loja, near the Deva river, on the outskirts of the village of El Mazo, in the concejo of Peñamellera Baja, was discovered in 1908 and is the first cave with Paleolithic art found in Asturias. Its gallery extends for about a hundred metres, and about halfway along opens the painted panel that made it famous: on a blackened surface, several animal figures were drawn in white, including bovids and a probable horse, together with an X-shaped sign, attributed to the Magdalenian and known as la torada. The rest of the outlines, much deteriorated, are today difficult to identify with certainty.
Willow groves of Buelles
Nature
A natural monument declared on 4 April 2002, protecting 52.29 hectares of the bed of the Deva river between the towns of El Mazu, Narganes and Buelles, in the concejo of Peñamellera Baja: a broad river meadow, a rare phenomenon in Asturias, populated by willow stands of different species -narrow-leaved sallow, osier, sallow and, further off, white willow- together with fragments of alder groves, banks and pebble beaches, held to be the most important of the whole Spanish Cantabrian coast. Among its fauna a population of otters stands out, indicating the good quality of the water, along with salmon and trout in the river, and birds such as the sand martin, the dipper and the kingfisher. The N-621, between Panes and Unquera, crosses El Mazu and Buelles, and the AS-343 passes through Narganes along the river's left bank.