Spain
Sotres

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    • Day 73

      Huckepack

      July 6, 2022 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 15 °C

      Nördlich von Porto fahren wir durch grüne Berglandschaft der spanischen Grenze entgegen. Wir entschieden uns, noch in Portugal unsere Wäsche zu waschen, denn hier ist es, genauso wie in Frankreich, am Intermarché sehr unkompliziert. Man startet die Maschine und kann daweile ganz gemütlich im Supermarkt einkaufen.
      Dann passierten wir ganz ohne Schild und Vorwarnung die Grenze. Einzig ein Blick auf die Uhr verriet, dass wir schon in Spanien sein mussten, denn uns wurde eine ganze Stunde geklaut.
      Da wir alle keine Lust mehr hatten zu fahren, bogen wir einfach links ab und fanden einen netten Übernachtungsplatz an einem glasklaren Fluss unterhalb eines Klosters und eines fast verlassenen Ortes. Außer ein paar Schafen samt Hütern hatte sich niemand weiter in diese Einsamkeit verirrt.
      Am nächsten Tag ging es, nach einer kleinen Wanderung, zu unserem eigentlichen Ziel- las Medulas.
      Dort übernachteten wir an einem See.
      Bei 33 Grad starteten wir am darauffolgenden Morgen eine Wanderung rund um die Las Médulas. Die außergewöhnliche Landschaft ist durch die Römer entstanden, denn für sie war die Region die wichtigste Goldmine des römischen Reichs. Sie durchlöcherten die Berge und schwemmten dann mit großen Mengen Wasser das Edelmetall heraus.
      Obwohl wir mit sehr vielen Menschen vom Parkplatz gingen, waren wir nach ein paar hundert Metern schon wieder völlig allein, denn unser Weg führte uns zuerst eine lange Zeit in der prallen Sonne um das Massiv herum bis wir zum Aussichtspunkt gelangten. Von dort hatte man einen grandiosen Ausblick über die roten Berge. Der Rückweg führte uns vorbei an den "Felsen", durch einen dichten, blühenden Esskastanienwald.

      Und da wir von Bergen nicht genug bekommen, ging es danach gleich weiter ins richtige Gebirge. Weiter im Norden liegt der Nationalpark der Picos de Europa. Fast auf Meeresniveau beginnend, ragen die Berge hier bis zu 2600 m in die Höhe. Die Landschaft erinnert uns sehr an die julischen Alpen, sehr wild und felsig.
      Für Fabi ging es an drei Tagen im Huckepack nochmals auf Wanderschaft. Die Ruta del Cares führte uns am ersten Tag durch eine spektakuläre Schlucht. Am zweiten Tag wanderten wir nach Bulnes,ein kleines Bergdorf, vom dem ich gehofft hatte,dass man das Wahrzeichen des Nationalparks, den Naranjo de Bulnes (oder auch Picu Urriellu) sehen kann. Dieser versteckte sich aber leider hinter fetten Wolken.
      Am letzten Tag war das Wetter dann perfekt und wir starteten von Sotres aus Richtung Urrielluhütte. Und da war er, in seiner ganzen Schönheit stand der steile Zahn des Naranjo de Bulnes vor uns- ein einzigartiges Panorama für das sich der schweißtreibende Anstieg gelohnt hat!
      Gern wären wir noch etwas länger geblieben, denn hier gefiel es uns wirklich sehr!
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    • Day 4

      Making new friends 😊

      August 12, 2023 in Spain ⋅ 🌫 15 °C

      After yet another disturbed night's sleep (too hot, noisy fan) I had a pretty relaxed start to my day. I had to be at Bilbao Airport by 1130 to meet the Explore! rep and my other walking buddies, and reckoned it'd take me about 30 minutes to walk to the Intermodal (the big bus station) where I'd get the airport bus. It should've taken me that yesterday, but with my 180° mistakes... 'nuff sed!😂 Bilbao was just waking up, it being the weekend, and it was interesting dodging the street cleaners!
      Anyway, after a leisurely start and a sort of second breakfast at the Intermodal (tortilla of course!) I got to the airport with plenty of time to spare.
      Juan was already there, big Explore! sign displayed so I couldn't miss him, as were Becky and ... I've forgotten her name already - here we go🙄🤔😂. Could be Linda, but then it could be Sandra...
      Anyway, there are 13 of us and at the mo (I still haven't spoken to everyone) over half of us are from the education sector 😫😆 - what would you expect, though? It's already resulted in some very interesting conversations!
      We had a 3 hour minibus journey ahead of us, about 2 of which skirted the same route Julie and I had walked on the Norte last year - I much preferred this method of travel. Then, after a quick snack stop, it was another hour winding up and up into the Picos de Europa. There were some fantastic views over the edges of the roads 😱 and some pretty sharp hairpin bends with cows in the way!!!
      This is serious mountain climbing country (not that we'll be doing any of that) and there are lots of paths leading through the three massifs that make up the Picos, some of which we'll be tackling over the next week.
      Sotres is the highest town (village?) in the Picos and even has its own albergue! Camino, anyone?
      Everyone seems to be really lovely. We're a mixed bunch, but I've found 2 fellow scousers, so there should be a few laughs, too.
      First walk tomorrow is 19km, I think, but we don't start til 0930 so I think it's going to be just fine 😊😊😊. We have mist right now, but a good walking temperature of 22° is forecast. That'll do!
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    • Day 6

      Good grief!😂

      August 14, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      So... yesterday was a real challenge - we walked approximately 19km and ascended/descended 780m both ways. Today's walk was 'different ' according to Juan, our guide. No further details 🙄, although we knew it was an 800m ascent/descent in about 17km.
      We began with a car journey of about 30 minutes to somewhere remote - every time we passed a car park I said a prayer of thanks - not so far uphill for us, I thought. Ha!!! Ha indeed!🙄😅
      From our car park we walked across a beautiful meadow - well, it was across and up, all in one. The meadow was where the Moors and the Visigoths had fought in AD718.
      We then passed the refugio that would welcome us with a cold beer on our way down 👏👏👏. There followed a rather strenuous hike, mostly uphill (although there were a few flatter bits of the path), to a 'saddle' where the huge monolith of the Naranjo de Bulnes stands. The last hour or more's walk, cos I was slow, was entirely uphill 😱. It was one of those "it's just around the corner" walks, but it was never just around the corner apart from when it was, of course😜😊. It was an amazing walk and I sort of loved it!
      The huge monolith thing will host the World Championship Mountain Climbing Competition next year, so I'll definitely be watching out for that!
      On the pic attached, there are actually at least 2 climbers - challenge to find them!!!
      After a very nice lunch, it was off downhill, and I mean downhill! The first part was the steep gradient it'd taken me over an hour to walk 😱. I managed to slip/slide and land on my bottom a couple of times, but no harm done, I have plenty of padding 🍑😅. We continued like this for ages until we reached the refugio for a well-earned beer 👍. Oh, and we were overtaken by mules on both legs! Apparently, daily supplies are carried by the mules, and once a year a helicopter delivers all the non-perishable! Poor mules!
      Our journey down was a lot quicker than our journey up, believe it or not, and we arrived back at our hotel in plenty of time for a beer👏👏👏.
      Tomorrow's pretty much all downhill. We'll just have to see🙄😅🥰. Hope the pics do the day justice!😘
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    • Day 7

      Well!!!

      August 15, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

      Not sure what to call today apart from Well!!!
      The day was described in the brochure as a 10km walk with 1,150m of descent. Juan said it was around 12km. My fitbit tells me a different story😅. According to it, I've walked over 19km, which will probably be about 18km depending on the length of my stride🙄🤔😂.
      We began the day walking through a bit of a meadow, joining a sheep drove after about 15 minutes. It was pretty obvious that not many sheep, or shepherds, had used this track in a while, but it was a lovely meander through some very green countryside. There were a few hairy bits where we had to beat back the brambles and watch our step, but nothing compared to the previous 2 days, although I have the scratches to prove it was a hard day!😂
      We'd been told there would be a 'short' ascent of about 15 minutes at the end of the drove, but we just hadn't been told how steep it was 🙄🤬😅. It was, thankfully, a concrete path to the main road towards the village of Treviso, where we'd be enjoying a lunch stop, so it certainly wasn't the slippery surface we'd encountered on either day 1 or 2! A half hour route march along a thankfully level road took us to Treviso to enjoy our packed lunch. I'd ordered a cheese tortilla bocadilla (a large sandwich on crusty, Spanish bread). When I opened my lunch... well, it was a cheese bocadilla - no spread, no nothing, only cheese 🙄😂. I gratefully swapped with one of my walking buddies, who really enjoyed it. I had tortilla which was, to be honest, disappointing 😞 🙄. But a coke zero and a Mars Bar soon put that right!
      Treviso is in Cantabria and is one of the places that makes its own cheese, storing it in the cheese caves we'd seen on day 1, so there was a bit of a tasting and, I have to say, it is absolutely amazing 😋😋😋.
      Until 1991, Treviso was only served by the track we were going to tackle next. This was the 1,150m descent we'd read about, and was bloomin awful! Anyone wishing to visit a large city, e.g. Santander, had to take themselves off down this track, catch the bus and do their business, return to the track and ascend 1,150m!!! 1991! 33 years ago! Unbelievable and incredible! The local postie only visited a couple of times a week and I'm sure he travelled by mule or something similar! One of the photos shows a wiggle of white lines - that was our route😱🙄😂 - whilst the other shows the track meandering down the mountain.
      The track consisted of chunks of limestone, some tiny, some medium sized and some absolutely massive. I only managed to fall over once today - not bad, and no bones were broken 👍, but the sheer concentration we had to put in to staying upright was very tiring!
      We were lucky enough to see nesting vultures on the limestone rockface, but they were so difficult to photograph! Nothing will match the splendour of finding a Griffin vulture circling over your head, taking food to its young, born only 2 or 3 weeks ago. Yet another amazing experience.
      On our way down, we also found a herd of goats resting on the hillside. They were massive and followed us noisily as we left the valley.
      Our walk brought us to a hydro-electric station and then up to the minibus, thank goodness! We were all really tired (see pic of Nick😂) but before we got back to the hotel, we picked up Juan's grandson from school. He's 5 yrs old and very sweet🥰🥰🥰. A mad, raucous evening meal (I wasn't involved, I promise 🙄) has seen me in bed by 9.30pm! Think I might get the painkillers ready for the morning...
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    • Day 10

      Almost a Camino day!🙄

      August 18, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

      Yes, almost a Camino day!
      Today, we had a new tour guide, David, Juan's 5 year old grandson. He was very cute and led the way for the first half of the day's walking. He scooted around with boundless energy, spoke Spanish, and all of the teachers in the group (I think 7 of us) oohed and aahed and smiled benevolently 🙄😂. Poor child!
      Our walk was a short 14km today, with 550m of descent and only 150m of ascent, but I'm sure you'll have guessed the sting in the tail...😆😫😖
      The day started out fantastically well, though, with a 2.5 hour wander through beech forest and a jungle of fern, which was head height and quite imposing. There was a tiny bit of uphill walking (no climbing, thank goodness), and a lot of gentle downhill walking. All in all, it really was very camino-ish and a massive change to what we'd experienced over the previous 5 days.
      The scenery was magnificent, and we were able to pinpoint where we'd already walked between the eastern, central and western massifs. I think it's photo 7 that shows parts of all 3 of them.
      At one point, we walked along a concrete path, which was hard underfoot. We were given the option of continuing on this road into the village of Tielve, or taking the older, original path. We all chose the path, which was pretty tough but short and, before we knew it, we were sitting on the terrace of the local bar enjoying our packed lunch of tuna salad and Kitkat, a coke, and some delicious local Cantabrian blue cheese. This one had been matured for 4 months in one of the local cheese caves and was really strong and smelly 😋😋😋.
      After lunch, our new tour guide was picked up by his grandma and we were all given the opportunity to return to the hotel with them. Tempting though it was, we were all keen to finish our week's walking on a high (did I mention that sting?🙄)
      The last hour and a half was the old path between Tielve and Sotres before the road was built and, you guessed it, was the 150m ascent😖. The path was rocky and narrow, as well as pretty steep. I was always grateful when there were walkers coming towards us so that I could do the polite thing and stop😅.
      In photo 8, you can see a cave. This was the last of Juan's stories 😊 - his wife's aunt was born in this cave during the Spanish Civil War - there's an entrance to the back of the cave. Franco supporters in the area reckoned the farmers were all communists and tried to get rid of them all. They fled to the hills, quite literally, and lived off the land. Apparently, the baby was born then smuggled back to Sotres, where the family still live, and fostered by a 'safe' family for 2 years. Living in the hills was particularly difficult as they couldn't even risk lighting a fire for fear of being found.
      Juan's a really interesting bloke, with lots of amazing local knowledge and experiences.
      We finally arrived, thankfully, at a viewpoint at the top of the village where we were able to stop for a quick break before a short and very slow walk back to the hotel.
      Dinner tonight was a selection of tapas, followed by goat and chips, then something extremely creamy and yummy.😋😋😋
      I still managed to get to bed by 10.00pm, though, I was already packed and ready for the off tomorrow.
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    • Day 14

      Mas de 40000 pasos

      July 25, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

      Amanecimos en Rivadesella y bajamos a comprar algunos tomates para la cena.
      Ya puestos desayunamos, paseamos y nos acercamos a ver el mar. Vistas impresionantes del Cantábrico, que tras 10 días en sus cercanías aún no habíamos visto.
      Tras volver a la auto nos marchamos al inicio de la ruta del Cares, como si de un paseíto por el paseo marítimo fuera
      Aparcamos a 2500 metros del inicio, haciendo Tetris para meter el bicho (por cierto, con la puerta de la casa abierta. Menos mal que ningún amigo de lo ajeno se enteró)
      El Sol pegaba cual sartenazo constante en la cabeza, y comenzamos el camino.
      La subida al collado me tocó la perra en brazos. Ana se hacía cruces pensando en los 28 kilómetros de la ruta con los 10 kilos de Fiona en brazos. Fiona solo pensaba en que no la dejàramos en el suelo. Yo, como es habitual, no pensaba. Y así pasamos el collado. Continuamos por la parte llana alternando perra en brazos con perra en suelo, hasta Cain, donde un buen bocata, un refresco y una siesta nos devolvieron las fuerzas.
      En el camino posterior descubrimos como los hados de la inspiración nos aconsejaron adecuadamente en la elección del nombre de nuestra perra. "Cuando está bajo el Sol, es princesa, pero de las auténticas. Protestona, caprichosa, blandengue, desobediente y para colmo, comemierda. Cuando anda a la sombra se convierte en una orco, que anda lo que sea necesario, no protesta, atiende, aunque como buen orco sigue amando las cositas negras olorosas del campo"
      La vuelta fue una pasada. Nos cruzamos con 6 personas y 8 millones de cabras. Casi no oímos el constante "que mona, ¿Cuanto tiempo tiene? ¿Y que raza es? Se va a hacer muy grande"
      Todo el camino a la sombra. Y nuestra perra en modo orca. Se hizo prácticamente 10 kilómetros seguidos sin parar, y no protesto más de 2 o 3 veces.
      Para colmo Ana me contó un gran secreto, de esos que no entiendes cómo has podido vivir 57 años sin él. Al andar hay que tensar los abdominales.
      Aún me cuesta controlarlo, porque al hacerlo se destensa el esfintes y se escucha música incelestial. Pero cuando sea mayor habré logrado andar un día entero con los abdominales duros.
      Llegamos a la auto, y tras ducha nos fuimos a Posadas, inicio del desfiladeros de la Hermida, para pasar el día siguiente en Fuente dé.
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