Los Llugarinos

Road and Mountain River route.
Duration: 4 hours.
Location: Trevías Valley.
Distance: 10 km. approx.
Starting Point: Trevías.
Elevation: 200 meters.
Degree of Difficulty: Easy.
Recommended season: All year.
Access: from Trevías N-634.
Flora: European ash, alder, hazel, rose, grey willow, bay laurel.
Wildlife: Salmo, otter, trout, common kingfisher, dragonfly and odonata, bullfinch, marsh tit.
Recommendations:  Please respect the plants, animals, housing, rural life and the silence of the landscape. Do not throw garbage anywhere. Walk thought the path; shortcuts break the trace of the road and contribute to soil erosion. Remember to close doors, gates, cross bars and cabin doors. Wearing comfortable clothes and shoes is advisable.

Alder, willow, maple, alder, and ash trees are the home of lots of birds in spring and summer. It will accompany the traveler. Along with blackcap, the chaffinch, the song thrush, the great tit and the marsh tit, we will find birds that live exclusively in fresh water as the white-throated dipper, the common sandpiper or the voracious common kingfisher. Due to the proximity of the mouth to this stretch of river, we find at this point yellow-legged gulls, grey herons and mallards. This place evidences the exceptionality of the Esva as natural habitat of varied and diverse wildlife which has its best representative in the Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Salmon is considered an indicator species of the river water quality. The salmons come in to the river buxom and silver from late winter to early summer. Each one returns to the river where it was born because it is able to remember the smell of the water where he lived when he was a juvenile. The preservation of the structure of the river and the maintenance of water quality is essential for the migration of salmons. Other species present in abundance is the otter (Lutra lutra), represents the last link in the food chain of river. The otter is, perhaps, the most significant predator of the river due to its diet includes all types of fishes.

From Bahinas we can approach to the level of the river or take the road to Llendelcastiello. Here, at the highest point of our route, you can see magnificent views of the valley and how the river has been meandering in the plain. Through the village we take the lane to Brañaverniza. Again we walk among woods of chestnut and oak Carbay, until they are replaced by a large pine forest of maritime pine. We must follow this path always frontwards, we won’t take any road to the right unless we are directed by signalling pathway.

We are in one of the council areas where the autochthonous forest of oligotrophic pedunculate oaks covers most of the streams and hollows, like the stream of La Braña at the right of our path, or stream of the mills to our left, and which descend to Balsera. Now we are in the Protected Landscape of the basin of the river Esva. Brañaverniza, it’s a winter fell, as its name indicates in Spanish. It is sitting on the hill and is inhabited by three families throughout the year. Some time ago, the inhabitants were engaged in transhumance. They walked up with their cows and sheeps to the pastures of Somiedo and they returned to rest in winter. We will leave this fell down the path that winds along the trail of the Mills until Balsera. Along the way we met several water mills, which exploit the kinetic energy of water to transform into energy, which will move the treadmill. All these mills are privately owned. This beautiful path leads us into a narrow valley, which is an example of all that make up the drainage that feeds the Esva River..
After 35 minutes we will be again in Balsera, opposite to Esva River with Trevías at the background, it is the heart of the valley.