An essential part of the council of Cabrales is integrated in the National Park of the Picos de Europa, one of the most emblematic natural areas of the north of the peninsula. This territory hosts the central massif of the Picos de Europa, known as the Urrieles, a set of high limestone mountains that make up some of the most recognizable landscapes of the Cantabrian mountain range.
Deep gorges such as the Cares River or the Duje delimit this massif and mark the access to a high mountain landscape characterized by limestone rock, steep channels, jous and wide areas of high altitude pasture. The silhouette of the Picu Urriellu (Naranjo de Bulnes) rises as one of the best known visual references of this environment.
Cabrales is home to the Central Massif of the Picos de Europa, "the Urrieles", the largest limestone accumulation in Atlantic Europe. This impregnable fortress stands isolated and defined by the deep incisions of two impossible gorges: the Cares River to the west and the Duje River to the east.
Both delimit a karst plateau located 2,000 meters above sea level, a true "vertical desert" dominated by jous -gigantic dolines that act as scars in the mountain-. From its edges rise an endless number of impossible rocky walls and needles, under the watchful eye of the iconic Picu Urriellu (Naranjo de Bulnes). There is no vegetation. Everything is bare limestone, a titanic landscape of lunar aspect, of arid and extreme beauty.
Access to this stony sanctuary is not a road, but a physical conquest through channels of brutal slopes. From Poncebos, the Canal del Texu winds its way to the isolated village of Bulnes, gateway to this universe. From there, the geography becomes even more severe: to the west, the strenuous Amuesa Channel lifts the mountaineer towards the remote sector of Cabrones; to the east, the hard Balcosín Channel and the stony ascent of Camburero lead to the foot of the Urriellu. The wild Dobresengos Channel, which plunges towards the Cares from breathtaking heights, deserves special mention.
This is a challenging paradise. Its climbing walls seem impossible and its profiles demand the utmost. Its magnetic beauty hides deadly traps: the absence of water and the harshness of the terrain demand maximum preparation, which is often lacking in those who approach it by taking advantage of modern means of access.
"The first National Park in Spain awaits you with its cliffs, forests and villages hanging from time"
The grandeur of the Urrieles also grows inward. Beneath the fractured ground hides a speleological labyrinth of world magnitude. Water seeps voraciously through the limestone jous creating vertiginous chasms that seek the water table of the rivers, generating a gigantic cave system. This dark environment, of constant humidity and cold air, has been domesticated, in the most accessible caves, by local ingenuity for the maturation of Cabrales cheese in the bowels of the earth.
As if that were not enough, the difficulty of the terrain is joined by extreme climatic hostility. The Urrieles are prone to violent and unpredictable changes: a sunny environment can be devoured in moments by fog, and mild temperatures drop below freezing in minutes.
These routes put you at the gates of this challenging paradise
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