Soto de Luiña is a quiet parish in western Asturias, a short way inland from one of the wildest stretches of the Cantabrian coast, and its church of Santa María is the reason the village has a name beyond the region. The building is baroque, rebuilt in the eighteenth century around older foundations, and alongside it stands the former pilgrims' hospital that once took in walkers on the coastal Way of Saint James. The church's interior, with its gilded altarpieces, comes as a surprise in such a small place, and the whole ensemble gives a sense of how the Camino shaped even modest villages along the route.
Cudillero, the nearest town of any size, lies about seven kilometres east, and is famous for the way its brightly painted houses crowd up the sides of a narrow valley above the fishing harbour, like an audience in a steep amphitheatre. It is busy in summer and worth seeing anyway, especially for grilled fish and a glass of Asturian cider poured from a height. Fuel and supplies are easy to find there and in the larger towns along the coast towards Avilés.
The riding here is all about the coast and the green hills behind it. A modern motorway now carries through traffic, which leaves the old coastal road for the curious, and that old road is the better choice by far, rising and falling through eucalyptus and chestnut, dipping to river mouths and climbing again over headlands. Nearby beaches such as the Playa del Silencio, a curve of grey pebbles under high cliffs, are reached by short side roads and a walk. The surfaces are generally sound but can be slippery when wet, and wet is the normal state of affairs here for a good part of the year.
That rain is the price of the landscape. Western Asturias is green because the Atlantic weather arrives straight off the sea, and fog can roll in over the headlands within minutes on a summer afternoon, turning a bright ride into a damp, grey one. The reward is the smell of cut grass, salt and wood smoke, the sound of the sea against slate cliffs, and evenings that end with a plate of fabada or fresh seafood. Pack a waterproof layer whatever the forecast promises.