Page 67 - Demo

We've called today our Religious Day. Which is a bit of a laugh as we are both athiests. Lots of visits to tourist spots for both the believers and non-believers. You can make out the true foundations of the city around the fountain, which is visibly a few metres lower than the city%u2019s modern street levels. The underground water source is channelled into a stone-gabled pool, and a cross and some inscriptions are visible on the stones. It%u2019s slightly obscured down a flight of stairs, but access is free.This morning's breakfast was again coffee and orange juice in the nice cafe downstairs.Day 30 - Tuesday 07/10/2025 - Oviedo to Ponferrada (Pro: Pohn-feh-RRAH-thah) to Astorga (Pro: as-TOR-ga) to Le%u00f3n (Pro: Lay-On) (1hr 25min) (2 nights) 15%u00b0Oviedo%u2019s citizens enjoyed drinking from this fountain in medieval times, and you can still do so today. The fountain is a short stroll north of the Oviedo Cathedral and is another of the city%u2019s UNESCO World Heritage sites. Today we have a long-ish drive to Le%u00f3n. Our last with our car. From Le%u00f3n we take fast trains to Madrid and Valencia, before picking up a new car for the rest of our time in Spain.We still had half hour before we had to meet our host at the car park so Steve went for a quick walk a short distance down to La Foncalada Fountain, an old Roman 'fountain' that we missed seeing yesterday. Louise doesn't do quick so she stayed at the apartment to finished packing. We drove 20 minutes to the outskirts of Oviedo up Avenue de los Monumentos to the big Monte Naranco lookout just outside the city. There we saw some quite spectacular very impressive 360%u00ba views of the valley, the Picos de Europa mountains and out to the sea near Gijon. Plenty of pilgrims were staggering up the mountain on foot too.We changed our planned route south after speaking with our host. We are so glad we listened to him. His suggestion was to drive south towards Le%u00f3n and go up and over the mountain range not through them on the toll road. It did add a fair bit to our driving time but it was worth it. There was a big warning sign at the start of the mountains about getting distracted while driving. You can see why, the views were very impressive. Lots of jagged rock formations and of course, twists and turns with hairpins bends and lots of tunnels. Steve was able to see a lot of the views as we got stuck behind a truck and were going slow. We went from hills of lush green to flat and yellow landscape today.We drove through little villages like Ronda-Sur, A-66 Autovia Rua de la Plata, el Caleyo, Vegalencia, Olloniego, El Padron Tunnel, Rebollada, Figaredo, Castiello emergency parking, Pola de Lena, Campumanes, Fierros, Rio Pajare, La Romia, the Mirador de Flordeacebos, Pajares, Puerto Pajares Mountain Pass Viewpoint, the Asturias and Castile and Leon border, Busdongo, Villanueva de la Tercia.