The Beyos Gorge: the Sella’s forgotten canyon
While the Cares Gorge draws thousands of visitors every year, there is another Asturian canyon that mass tourism barely knows: the Desfiladero de los Beyos, carved by the river Sella between the municipalities of Ponga and Amieva and the Leonese municipality of Oseja de Sajambre, in the Cantabrian Mountains.
In local speech, “beyu” is the word for gorges and ravines, and this one earns it: the gorge proper stretches about 11 kilometres between Ceneya and Cobarcil (León), and Amieva town council counts about 12 kilometres between the hamlet of Rañes and the Venta de Cobarcil inn along the winding N-625 road.
The river Sella, one of Spain’s most important salmon rivers at 66 kilometres long, enters Asturias right here. Between the walls there is only room for the river and the road: limestone cliffs drop sheer on both sides, and in the side ravines hide hamlets that barely make the news.
The Camino del Beyo: 400 years of mule track
Before the road there was a mule track, the Camino del Beyo, documented for some 400 years. In 1665, Pedro Díaz de Oseja, Archdeacon of Villaviciosa of the Church of Oviedo, funded its rebuilding, carried out by the neighbours of Oseja de Sajambre between the late 17th and early 18th centuries; in 1708 one wooden bridge was still missing.
People and livestock used it for centuries, until the Sahagún–Las Arriondas road at the end of the 19th century left the old track to memory.
The gorge has well-defined sections, from south to north: from Cobarcil to the Angoyo bridge, with the rock formations of El Frailón and Les Monxines; from La Huera (La Güera) to Vidosa, with the Aguasalió waterfall; and from the Vidosa bridge to Ceneya, with the Carriá drops and the pre-cornión.
Waterfalls and bridges: Aguasalió and the Pombayón bridge
At Puente Vidosa, in the heart of the gorge, the Aguasalió waterfall drops 20 metres. And near Vidosa stood the Pombayón bridge — the Beyos Bridge — key to Amieva’s communication with San Juan de Beleño, Arcenorio and La Uña.
Villages hanging above the gorge
Above the walls live tiny hamlets: Casielles and Carangas, in the municipality of Ponga, with 14 and 11 inhabitants in 2023; the hamlet of Biamón (or Viamón); Sebarga, one of the five parishes of Amieva; and Víboli, named in the area’s hiking routes. At Santillán, the river Ponga joins the Sella and the valley opens up a little at Precendi–Santillán and Ceneya.
How to explore it: the N-625 road and the Postman’s Trail
The simplest way is to drive the N-625 between Ceneya and Cobarcil, taking it easy: the gorge is narrow and the bends are many.
The Senda del Cartero (Postman’s Trail), 12 kilometres long, starts from the N-625 and offers views over the gorge: it passes through Biamón, with its “beyusco” hórreos (raised granaries), through Casielles and through the Foz de los Andamios, where the Víboli river descends in waterfalls to the Sella.
And for long-distance walkers there is the GR-201, the Senda del Arcediano: from Puerto del Pontón to Soto de Sajambre, Amieva and Puente Dobra; the official section listed by Turismo Asturias, 30.19 kilometres long, links Soto de Sajambre with Amieva.
A cheese named after the gorge
Los Beyos cheese, with Protected Geographical Indication, is made in Ponga, Amieva and Oseja de Sajambre, and takes its name from this gorge: the best gastronomic souvenir of the visit.
Protected nature
The surroundings are part of the Ponga Natural Park, declared a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve in 2018. Griffon vultures, golden eagles and short-toed eagles nest on its cliffs.
