Two old bats discover a drive-through cave and go dinosaur hunting

Cuevona!

A Spanish friend tells me that the suffix "...ona" means "very big": we were intrigued by the name "Cuevona de Cuevas de Agua" nearby our campsite and made our way there.... good thing we are used to narrow country lanes! We eventually found the place, billed as "one of the few natural caves you can drive through". Visitors aren't encouraged to do so though and there's a car park (free) signposted off the lane just before the cuevona itself.

The entrance to Cuevona

The road through the cave is the only access to the village which must have made it a pretty secure place to live in less secure times - rather like one lone gunman holding the pass in a Zane Grey novel!

People standing in the entrance give an idea of scale. As well as the road, a stream runs through the cave

Don't touch.... stock route... for safety wear high visibility garments.....

What's pretty amazing about this is that it is FREE! Even the car park!

Curtain of stalagmite

There's a little bit of well-placed lighting

Light at the end of the tunnel, and a small side tunnel on the right

Coming out into the daylight at the far end you enter a secret valley (though there is a railway line!) which has an abundance of amazing granaries propped up on the biggest staddle stones you ever did see!

Staddle stones with Jan for scale!

Going in the reverse direction to get back to the campervan we saw all the cave formations in reverse of course. What an amazing place!

Back into the Cuevona - the stream on the right is protected by a concrete barrier

Some of the stalagmites and stalactites

The light at the end of the tunnel - Jan for scale again!

Then we went on a dino-hunt

Jan kindly drove a couple of times around the roundabout so I could get this shot!

Jurassic coasts don't stop at the English Channel - Asturias has its very own Jurassic Coast with numerous exposures where traces of dinosaurs can be found.

Asturias' Jurassic coast showing where dinosaurs have been found

At the Museo Jurasico at Colunga there are outdoor, full size models, as well as replicas of trackways. 

Jan feeding the Triceratops

Behind you!

Wow!

Inside the museum has plenty of explanatory displays.

Information about the trackway

Replica trackway

Showing how the muscles fit onto the skeleton

Superb displays

Description of the measurements that can be taken from trackways and the use to which they can be put

We managed to resist the lure of the last room in the museum... the shop! 

Tomorrow we are planning to go high in the Picos de Europa, on the cable car at Fuente De.