'See you, dear Asturies, / humble and cuddled / between the Europe’s Peaks / and the Puerto of Vegarada, / who keep and defend you / how to keep an infant, / princess or beautiful maiden / by whitches enchanted ... '
[Carlos de la Concha (1)]

There are several ways to get to this small village of La Carballosa: one is following the general road, which ends precisely there, in a roundabout, and another is to do it on foot from Busloñe, going down a steep path that, delimited by a small Although it is a dense copse, it may seem like the ideal place for the tricks and trappings of scoffers and mocking diaños (devils).

However, I recommend to arm yourself with courage and follow this pleasant path, above all, because we will soon realize that the cobblestone that we tread is History; and although the echo, dry and shuddering, of the soles of the sandals of the tanned legionaries is no longer heard, it nevertheless constitutes the small vestige of an ancient Roman road.

In La Carballosa, I heard for the first time about the path of the Quirosanos -curetes, cairos, queiros, ancestral quiros- that route, possibly taken by Pelayo and the Morcín soldiers who accompanied him, until the Ark with the relics was placed in the top of the Monsacro (2).

And here, in La Carballosa, I met at the same time, a peculiar character named Francisco, from whom I had the impression that behind his appearance as a rugged mountain farmer, in reality, the heart of a poet and the wisdom of a genius.

Obviously, I also came across remnants of the past with a bittersweet taste of mystery, such as the monoxi crosses that safeguard the eardrums of some homes; some solar symbols engraved and also painted on the centenary wood of the hórreo (barn or granary) of Francisco, in whose shadow, proud still for their state of conservation and usefulness, rested a car and a mill with genuine medieval flavor.

Sentinels that do not lose any detail - not in vain, have a reputation that their eyes can go beyond the limits of reality - the cats posed for the camera with a truly surprising worldliness: now planted on the window sill, which comadres not they lose detail of what happens in the town; now looking for the placid shadow under the bell of the little hermitage of Cristo de la Misericordia, or lying down how long they are, in the lattice-like structure of a granary, with the backdrop of the Monsacro hillside, transfiguring with the last rays of sun.

On the contrary, on the other side, the highest peaks of the Sierra del Aramo and the Angliru began to cover themselves with shade and fog, preparing the terrain for the wolf and its mysteries.

Notes, References and Bibliography:

(1) Poet born in Villaviciosa, in 1877. He cultivated poetry in both Bable and Castilian.
(2) Piedra del Camín (border between Quirós and Morcín), Llanos del Texu, Vildeo, Pan de la Forca, Braña Ce, Vega Bobies, Los Bragaories, So Les Talles, Tres Los Bragales, Papera, El Colleu, Canal de la Grass, Xunceo, Cuitu Utiel (limit between Riosa and Morcín), Summit of the Hill Cordal, Al Rozo Morcín, Cobarriella, Canal de la Espina ... and the Monsacro.

NOTICE: originally posted on my blog MEMORIES OF A PILGRIM. Both the text and the photographs that accompany it are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, where you can check the authorship of juancar347, can be found at the following address: https://jc347.blogspot.com/2011/09/pueblines-del-camin-la-carballosa.html