On the drive up toward Valle de Lago, a side track leads to a braña — a high summer pasture used by the vaqueiros, the semi-nomadic cattle herders of Asturias who have been moving their herds between the coast in winter and the mountain pastures in summer for generations. The practice continues today, though in reduced form.

The braña is a collection of thatched stone structures — pallozas — that served as summer dwellings and cattle shelters. Some are still in use. Others have been standing empty long enough to be reclaimed by the grass growing up around their foundations.

This is not a museum or a heritage site. It is a working landscape with a visible history. Walk through it slowly and leave it exactly as you found it.