Merás

Merás is a lugar (hamlet) in the parish of Paredes, in the municipality of Valdés, and one of the sixteen settlements (aldeas, lugares and caserías) that make up this parish in western Asturias. Valdés, whose capital is Luarca, borders the Cantabrian Sea to the north and belongs to the Comarca Vaqueira, named after the vaqueiros de alzada, a social group with a nomadic way of life.

In 2001 the valley and parish of Paredes received the Premio al Pueblo Ejemplar de Asturias, in recognition of its residents’ work to conserve the natural surroundings and their historical and ethnographic heritage. The Esva River runs through the parish; it rises in the Sierra de Tineo and flows into the Cantabrian Sea. At El Candanín lies the Coto de Paredes, a stretch of the river with trout and salmon where otters also live, and between San Pedru (Paredes) and Brieves the Esva passes through the Hoces del Esva, a narrow gorge cut into quartzite.