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I drove to Cangas de Onis on a very wet and blustery Sunday afternoon, with the plan of running the big loop of the 27 Kangas Mountain route, in preparation for the race on the 28th February. I think I left it a little late (I arrived at 4 pm) before heading off.
I was using the GPS on my phone along with the BackCountry Navigator app and the route downloaded from WikiLoc.com to find my way.
The plan was to start from Cangas but due to a lack of parking I drove up to a little village called Aballe and parked up next to the spring. From there the route turns off into the woods and climbs steadily up into hills above the River Sella. It then drops back down by fairly technical single-track to the very bouncy suspension footbridge over the Sella to the start of the path along the River Dobra.
Due to heavy rainfall and a substantial raise in the temperature, which melted a lot of snow, the river was as full as I've ever seen it, with many parts of the path covered up with water.
When I got 11 kilometres in, near the top of the steep climb up from the Olla de San Vicente, a number of factors started to make me think that I might have left a little late..
I therefore re-evaluated and when I found a better marked track, decided to stay on it, instead of trying to find the actual route. After passing through a little village I started to feel a bit more confident about getting back to Cangas safely and got back on the forestry tracks that go back down to the main road.
The last 2 kilometres along the road from Cangas to where I'd parked the car, were really hard and the car was definitely a welcome sight.