Teach Translate Travel Repeat

High in the Picos de Europa National Park in Asturias, Spain lies the town of Covadonga. Near the town lies the Lagos (Lakes) of Covadonga. They form due to glacial run-off at an altitude of over 1,000 metres. They consist of a series of three lakes (or two when not during the glacier’s melting period). The lakes, known simply as ‘The Lakes’ (Los Lagos) in Asturias, were the original centre of the Picos de Europa National Park. They are known for the beautiful mountainous scenes as well as for the Vuelta de España, a professional road cycling race that occurs from the town of Covadonga to the Lagos.

Our journey started early in the morning. The access road is only available to car traffic until 8 AM. Afterwards, an access barrier blocks them, allowing only authorised buses to pass. As we did not want to depend on the buses, we decided to get up very early. That way we could be there before the barrier closed. There are usually long lines for the buses; they also only leave from Covadonga, so you have to find parking there first. This gave us the freedom to spend the entire day up there; we did not need to wait in hours-long queues for the return journey.

Our hike took us around the main two lakes of Covadonga, Lake Enol and Lake Ercina (as we went in the summer, the third lake was completely dry). We spent the morning hiking around Lake Ercina (with some deviations into the mountainous areas around the lakes). We spent the afternoon hiking around Lake Ernol, which was just going around the lake itself without mountainous excursions.

Here are some more photos from the lakes and the area:

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Key: Sightseeing (blue), Nature (green), Food (purple), Art/Festivals/Culture/Religion (orange), General Information (black), Quora question (red)

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