Sierra del Sueve

There are two contiguous mountain ranges, the Sueve whose highest peak is the Picu Pienzu (1161 m) and the Fitu with the peak of the same name as the highest one which has a viewpoint from where a wide area can be seen both on the coast and inland.
The representative vegetation is the beech and yew forests. The representative fauna is the fallow deer, deer, fox and wild boar; birds of prey such as the Egyptian vulture and the Asturian horses.
Since April 4, 2007, the Sierra del Sueve has an Interpretation Center, located in the town of Gobiendes in the Council of Colunga, on the north side. The Interpretation Centre of the Sierra del Sueve, is owned by the City Council of Colunga.
The Sierra del Sueve extends in a north-eastern, south-western direction, starting almost from sea level to the 1,161 metres of altitude of the Picu Pienzu, according to the latest measurements and cartography of the National Geographic Institute (IGN). This difference in level must be overcome in less than 4 km in a straight line from the coast to the top of this peak. This turns the Sueve into a magnificent watchtower of the Cantabrian coast, as well as of a large part of the central-eastern interior of Asturias and the mountains of the Picos de Europa, the area of Ponga, Redes, up to the Aramo beyond Oviedo, where the now mythical Angliru is located.
We could describe the Sueve as a mountain range with steep slopes with a more or less flat upper area, broken by countless depressions in the terrain, cuts, wells and peaks, the result of the process of cartification.
This makes walking in the upper part sometimes complicated as the terrain sometimes prevents us from advancing between the dolines in good condition, as in the area of Los Vasos, on the north face of the Mirueñu peak, which is of great scenic beauty but complex to walk on due to the broken terrain and the large amount of rock that has to be crossed.
The Sierra has only entrances on foot, with a few dirt tracks, but these are exclusively for livestock or timber. These tracks can be accessed on foot and the easiest ways to do so are from the Alto de la Llama which leads to the Espineres sheepfold in the south-western part of the Sierra, where the Asturcón festival is held every year, and from the Mirador del Fitu, on the classic route which leads to Picu Pienzu, via the PR-AS 7
The asturcón is a breed of rustic, small-sized horse of Asturian origin. It is one of the breeds that have inhabited the mountainous territories from the Cantabrian Mountains to the western Pyrenees since ancient times.
The Asturcón, after centuries of extraordinary performance, was on the verge of perishing due to the advance of industrialism. The asturcón in its origins was wild and had no use for the human being. Later it was domesticated and was used for agricultural tasks and transport. The asturcón used them as riding and draught animals, in some cases they could be used for food or sacrifice, as it has been stated in the remains found in the archaeological excavations of the castro of Noega in Gijón (Asturias). The Romans appreciated their characteristics and used them in the mines. That is why there were some examples in the mining areas of Valencia.
Nowadays the last Asturcones are reduced to the Sueve mountain, in the east of Asturias, between the councils of Parres, Piloña, Caravia and Colunga, they are reduced to a few specimens protected by ACAS. The festivity of “La doma del asturcón” is held in the middle of August in Espineres (PIloña), where the “wild” Asturcones are controlled by marking.
Back to