Ask a Spaniard where their country's story starts again after the Moorish conquest and many will say here, in a green fold of the Picos de Europa, a few kilometres up the valley from Cangas de Onís. The tradition says a Visigothic noble named Pelayo and a small band of Asturians beat a Muslim force in the hills around 722, and the kingdom of Asturias grew from it. Whether the battle was as grand as the legend or a skirmish blown up later, historians still argue, but the place carries the weight regardless. Pelayo is buried in the cave.
That cave, the Santa Cueva, holds a shrine to the Virgin, the Santina, set under a rock overhang with a waterfall spilling beside it into a pool. Above stands the twin-spired pink basilica, a nineteenth-century building, and on the terrace you will meet pilgrims, school groups and bikers all taking the same photographs. It is busy, and it is meant to be. Park, walk the short paths, and let the scale of the limestone walls settle in.
The road here is the AS-262 and its siblings, climbing out of Cangas de Onís along the Güeña river through meadows, chestnuts and beech, with stone hórreos on stilts in the village yards. It is a gentle, pretty approach, not a technical one, and the surface is decent. The real weather lesson of the Picos comes with the altitude. The Atlantic is only a short distance north, so cloud piles up against the peaks, and a bright morning can turn to drizzle by noon. Summer weekends and Easter are the crowded times, and when the road above is busy, access to the lakes can be controlled, so check before you commit your day to it.
Cangas de Onís has fuel, cafés and the Roman-style bridge with the hanging cross, which is worth a look. Asturias runs on cider poured from a height, bean-and-sausage stew called fabada, and strong blue cheeses, and any bar around here will serve you all three without ceremony. If you are staying on the bike, stick to the coffee and a slice of cheese and save the cider for the evening.