Bridge over the Cares River in the Picos de Europa National Park, Leon Province (Spain)

The rivers, of course, reflect the characteristics of the land. Born of the mountain and the snow-field, they come leaping and surging seawards, dancing to their own wild music, as they crush through narrow gorges, by crag and hanging wood, hurrying ever northward towards the Biscayan sea.

Excerpt about the Cantabria
rivers in Wild Spain

Abel Chapman (1893)