Tuesday, June 25, 2013
Picos de Europa Day 1- Monday 27th May
So after my sojourn in sunny Barcelona, I handled my case, which had started to fall apart, back to the airport and onto the short flight to Asturias airport, where I met my fellow treckers- 6 chaps and another lady- and our guide, Juan. We were to spend our first night in luxury at a really posh hotel but I was rather disappointed to see that the sun had completely disappeared and had been replaced with mist and drizzle... I hoped that it would improve!
The next morning I jumped out of bed, eagerly pulled the curtain back to reveal... mist. It had been raining the night before, which was a bit of a shock as I had been expecting to see a bit of sun! Our day's itinerary for today was to walk up from Covadonga Lakes to the Refugio Vegarredonda and then onto the Ordiales viewpoint, which Juan assured us is stunning- in clear weather... unfortunately for us it wasn't clear...
Stopping on the way to the lakes to see the impressive cathedral of Basilica of Santa María la Real of Covadonga with its impressive rock cut hermitage of Santa Maria, the tops of the mountains had disappeared into mist.
We drove upwards for miles along a windy, twisty road which I believe is used quite a lot in the Spanish Cycle Race. Cows roam free range, with large bells around their necks, and don't seem to have any road sense at all! Reaching the lakes, we turned off along a dirt track which led to a car park. Juan and his wife Sonya gave us our packed lunches and we set off up the path towards the refuge.
Traffic Jam!
Walking Towards The Cloud
Unfortunately we were soon walking into the cloud and could see very little. Juan produced a guide book and showed us a photo of the view we should have been able to see in front of us... not sure it helped any!
After a couple of hours walking we reached the refuge. Half of the group decided to go up a little more towards the snow line, but as there was no possibility of a view, the rest of us decided to stay put at the refuge, open up our mess tins, have lunch and cups of coffee.
Going down the same way, it was some time before we started to have any kind of view again, although I did snap these chaps;
Once back at the cars, we stopped at the hotel to collect our things before heading to Sotres, and the hotel which was to be our base for the rest of the week. This proved to be a charming cosy and friendly hotel owned by Sonya's family- Hotel Rural Casa Cipriano.
The next morning I jumped out of bed, eagerly pulled the curtain back to reveal... mist. It had been raining the night before, which was a bit of a shock as I had been expecting to see a bit of sun! Our day's itinerary for today was to walk up from Covadonga Lakes to the Refugio Vegarredonda and then onto the Ordiales viewpoint, which Juan assured us is stunning- in clear weather... unfortunately for us it wasn't clear...
Stopping on the way to the lakes to see the impressive cathedral of Basilica of Santa María la Real of Covadonga with its impressive rock cut hermitage of Santa Maria, the tops of the mountains had disappeared into mist.
Unfortunately we were soon walking into the cloud and could see very little. Juan produced a guide book and showed us a photo of the view we should have been able to see in front of us... not sure it helped any!
After a couple of hours walking we reached the refuge. Half of the group decided to go up a little more towards the snow line, but as there was no possibility of a view, the rest of us decided to stay put at the refuge, open up our mess tins, have lunch and cups of coffee.
Going down the same way, it was some time before we started to have any kind of view again, although I did snap these chaps;
Labels: Covadonga, Picos de Europa, Sotres
Thursday, June 20, 2013
I'm Ba-a-ack!!
Please excuse the protracted absence... as soon as I got home it was straight back to work and the hurly burly hecticness that is everyday life...
The holiday? It was great! Although I very nearly didn't get to Spain on 24th May... I boarded my BA flight at Heathrow for the 8:30am flight and we sat on the tarmac for a few minutes, before the Captain told us that the south runway was closed so we were going to have to use the north runway. Ten minutes later nothing had happened, and he then told us the north runway was now closed due to a plane returning to the airport due to technical issues so we were waiting for the south runway to be reopened.
Another passenger came up to the people sitting near me and said that apparently, according to Twitter, the returned plane had suffered an engine fire, and had to deploy the emergency chutes. It was only when I returned home I discovered that this had indeed been the case, and that Heathrow had cancelled over 100 short haul flights until 4pm. We were an hour late taking off, which in the grand scheme of things was nothing... I think if we hadn't all been on board and ready to leave we would have been there for hours.
Barcelona was beautiful, and it was lovely to spend time with my Dad and Step mum. But this being an endurance adventures blog I guess people are more interested to hear about the mountains!
The Picos de Europa literally means 'The Peaks of Europe' and are situated in the Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and Leon areas of Northern Spain. The mountain range is made up of three massifs- Central, Eastern and Western. These mountains are limestone and the landscape was formed by glaciation.
We stayed in Sotres, which is the highest village in the Picos and situated in the Cabrales region of Asturias. It was certainly a spectacular location- cream and white buildings nestled amongst mighty jagged peaks. Perfect walking country.
Unfortunately we didn't have perfect walking weather... when I first booked I just assumed oh yes... Spain at the end of May... hot, sunny, great views, clear skies... it wasn't until I looked online a few days before I was due to fly that I thought- hang on, it could actually be chilly!
And it was... it was remarkably like the Lake District during a wet spell- mists, obscured views, rain, rain and more rain... most disappointing! A couple of group members were caught out by this and had to by fleeces from the shop attached to the hotel. Our tour leader said that it was usually much warmer and much more settled by this time of year, but they had had a lot more snow than usual this year... seems as though the winter weather we had has affected all of Europe.
It did brighten up towards the end of the week and I think I did get some good shots. There were 8 of us on the tour, 6 chaps and 2 ladies, just a nice number for getting to know each other, and of course our guide Juan. I will post accounts of each day's walk, with photos, but for now please indulge me and let me share a few pics of Barcelona with you... well I did do a lot of walking whilst I was there...
The Cathedral
Las Ramblas
Oh yummy...
Casa Batllo
Inside The Sagrada Familia
Park Guell
Arts Museum Near Placa d'Espana
The holiday? It was great! Although I very nearly didn't get to Spain on 24th May... I boarded my BA flight at Heathrow for the 8:30am flight and we sat on the tarmac for a few minutes, before the Captain told us that the south runway was closed so we were going to have to use the north runway. Ten minutes later nothing had happened, and he then told us the north runway was now closed due to a plane returning to the airport due to technical issues so we were waiting for the south runway to be reopened.
Another passenger came up to the people sitting near me and said that apparently, according to Twitter, the returned plane had suffered an engine fire, and had to deploy the emergency chutes. It was only when I returned home I discovered that this had indeed been the case, and that Heathrow had cancelled over 100 short haul flights until 4pm. We were an hour late taking off, which in the grand scheme of things was nothing... I think if we hadn't all been on board and ready to leave we would have been there for hours.
Barcelona was beautiful, and it was lovely to spend time with my Dad and Step mum. But this being an endurance adventures blog I guess people are more interested to hear about the mountains!
The Picos de Europa literally means 'The Peaks of Europe' and are situated in the Asturias, Cantabria, Castile and Leon areas of Northern Spain. The mountain range is made up of three massifs- Central, Eastern and Western. These mountains are limestone and the landscape was formed by glaciation.
We stayed in Sotres, which is the highest village in the Picos and situated in the Cabrales region of Asturias. It was certainly a spectacular location- cream and white buildings nestled amongst mighty jagged peaks. Perfect walking country.
Unfortunately we didn't have perfect walking weather... when I first booked I just assumed oh yes... Spain at the end of May... hot, sunny, great views, clear skies... it wasn't until I looked online a few days before I was due to fly that I thought- hang on, it could actually be chilly!
And it was... it was remarkably like the Lake District during a wet spell- mists, obscured views, rain, rain and more rain... most disappointing! A couple of group members were caught out by this and had to by fleeces from the shop attached to the hotel. Our tour leader said that it was usually much warmer and much more settled by this time of year, but they had had a lot more snow than usual this year... seems as though the winter weather we had has affected all of Europe.
It did brighten up towards the end of the week and I think I did get some good shots. There were 8 of us on the tour, 6 chaps and 2 ladies, just a nice number for getting to know each other, and of course our guide Juan. I will post accounts of each day's walk, with photos, but for now please indulge me and let me share a few pics of Barcelona with you... well I did do a lot of walking whilst I was there...
Labels: Barcelona, Picos de Europa
