"High mountain shepherds"

Cabrales is a territory that, although rough and difficult, has been home since ancient times. Humans have inhabited these mountains since the Paleolithic era, leaving an indelible mark in the paintings of the Covaciella Cave, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The early human presence allows us to guess a livestock activity in these lands that, from always, (caves abound with Neolithic remains, from the Copper Age...) reaches the present day structuring the life, culture and landscape of these lands

This livestock identity, the "soul" of Cabrales, was forged in the heights, in the sheepfolds, those summer settlements hanging in the abyss. There, heroic shepherding is practiced, a daily epic of vertigo and solitude where cows, sheep and goats defy gravity to pluck green shoots between the cracks, under the constant threat of treacherous fog (the encainada) and storms.

From this struggle against the orography was born the alchemy of survival. Faced with the impossibility of bringing down fresh milk daily on impossible trails, the shepherds transformed a perishable liquid into an eternal food. The genius lay in using the mountain itself to their advantage: they understood that the caves and chasms were natural cold chambers. The constant humidity and cold air (el soplao) created the perfect environment for Penicillium. Eating Cabrales cheese is not just tasting a dairy product; it is eating the landscape and the effort of centuries to tame the mountain.

As an indispensable refuge from the hostility of the peaks, villages arose in the lower, protected areas. They are nuclei that do not impose themselves on the landscape, but are embedded in it to spend the winter. Here the necessary prevails over the ostentatious: there are hardly any stately homes, but vital infrastructures such as the medieval Puente de la Jaya and humble churches.

The architecture, robust, takes advantage of the omnipresent limestone. In its narrow streets (caleyas) the traditional houses orient their wooden corridors to the sun. These ancient spaces are still alive, with the smell of firewood and the sound of cowbells, and continue to fulfill their primary design: to resist and take advantage of a way of life dedicated to the mountain.

Following the routes of our dairy farms you will find magical places, sheepfolds and winters like these

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