Canyoning on the River Cicera — Technical Descent in the Desfiladero de La Hermida

The River Cicera Canyoning experience

The Cicera is back-to-back abseiling from start to finish. Three hours in the channel with a continuous succession of waterfalls from six to twenty-five metres, all technical and all on rope. And here is what sets this canyon apart: it starts from the village. No approach, no walk-in — the rope goes up on the first obstacle and doesn't stop until the end.

The activity starts at the activity centre in La Hermida. The qualified guide hands out the gear — full wetsuit, helmet, harness, neoprene shoes — and delivers a thorough technical briefing: abseil position, braking and vertical exit. The rope technique is reviewed before the first obstacle and applied again and again throughout the descent.

The route follows the Cicera channel, a Deva tributary, inside the Desfiladero de La Hermida on the Cantabrian side of the Picos de Europa. Grey limestone defines the canyon: narrow, vertical, with a vegetation-rich channel. The abseils come without pause — six, eight, twelve, fifteen, up to twenty-five metres — a technical progression that demands constant attention and agility.

And at the end, the longest abseil of the route: twenty-five metres of free-hanging rope with the limestone wall at your back and the water falling alongside. It is the abseil that sets the Cicera apart from any family descent — the one that defines the canyon.