The Somiedo Nature Park spans five valleys: Saliencia, Valle del Lago, Puerto and Pola de Somiedo, Perlunes and Pigüeña, and their five rivers with which they share their name, covering an area of 283 square kilometers.

Man has known how to understand the nature of the Park and it has returned its care, remaining barely unchanged throughout the centuries, being, even today, an example of coexistence and complete integration.

Of its landscape, the beauty of the lakes stands out, located to the south of the council of Somiedo, at the top of the Cordilleras that separate Somiedo from León: the three small lakes of Saliencia; Lago del Valle, with its characteristic islet, and which is the largest lake in Asturias, with an average radius of 280 meters and an average draft of 10 meters, although in some areas it reaches 50; and the hidden Lagunas de El Páramo, between the valleys of the Somiedo and Pigüeña rivers.

It is one of the most rugged landscapes in Asturias, due to its unevenness from 400 to 2,200 meters. Valuable geological characteristics stand out in the complex, due to its great variety of materials: limestone, siliceous, sandstone that cause spectacular karstic forms. Valleys dusted with minerals such as iron, deposits of arsenic, mercury, lead, marble and granite. A space of contrasts between peaks and depressions, which show the traces of the tectonic movements suffered in its numerous thrusts, faults and folds.

Throughout its entire length, there are brañas with fertile pastures where you can see, not without difficulty, the famous “cabanas” de teito de escoba: stone cabins and roofs made of brooms and brooms, used by the vaqueiros de alzada and the ranchers of the mountains as a refuge. Currently there are more than 500 cabins distributed throughout the park. In its surroundings, the transfer of cattle in search of the best pastures still takes place today.

Snowfalls are frequent in the winter months above 1,200 meters; the coldest months are January and February, and the warmest, July, August and September, and the temperature difference between the two periods is considerable. It was declared a Nature Park in 1988, being the first of the spaces in the Principality of Asturias to receive this recognition.

Source: La Región