Before setting out on a tour of Picos de Europa tour it is worth while making an excursion to Covadonga and the Covadonga National Park. Leave Cangas de Onis on C 6312, going east, and in 4km/2.5mi, at Soto de Cangas, turn right into a beautiful little road which runs up a mountain valley to the little town of Covadonga (8km/5mi from Cangas de
Onis), situated on a hill spur. This is one of the great Spanish shrines and a much frequented place of pilgrimage.
Covadonga is regarded as the birthplace of Spain. After the Moorish incursion and the destruction of the Visigothic kingdom a handful of Christian warriors under the leadership of Pelayo withdrew into these inaccessible mountains and defied the invaders. In 722 they won the first Christian victory over the Moors when they routed an army sent against them by the Emir of Córdoba. Pelayo and his men attributed their victory to the Virgin and set up an altar to her in a cave, the Santa Cueva. The name given to the spot, Covadominica (the ''Virgin's Cave''), developed into the present name of Covadonga. The Reconquista then started from the newly founded kingdom of Asturias, with its capital at Cangas de Onis: hence the title of Prince of Asturias borne by the heir to the Spanish throne.
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