Picos de Europa - Week 2

Monday 15^th August – Picos de Europa – Day 1

We got up at about 9:45 and had a breakfast of bread and honey. We arrived on a Sunday, so a lot of the shops were shut. We spent most of last night running round Potes trying to get food for tea and breakfast.  We thought the market would be a good place to start this morning. The market had various foods we could stock up on, such as olives, fruit and a piece of bread shaped like a tortoise shell (hardly the essentials in my opinion). After following Mum and Dad around the market for what seemed like an hour we were finally free of the place and into the centre of Potes, where we bought some maps and I found an internet café to publish my post on Matienzo. We then went to the butchers, where with the help of Andy and Julie’s Spanish, we bought our meat before returning to the cottage for a bit of lunch. Andy looked on our map and planned a walk we could do from a village called Colio, just a few km away. We drove to Colio (550m) and set off up towards la Riscos a col at about 1000m. On the way the views got even better, often the case when heading up a mountain. It was quite late and we hadn’t had tea yet. I was convinced I could get up to ‘Pico de la Paña’ (1356m) and get back down before dark but despite me trying to persuade Mum, She wan’t going to let me go up. But they did say they’d drop me off there the next day to explore the mountain range. We arrived back at the cottage and had a nice stew that Dad made. And then played a card game.

Tuesday 16^th August – Picos de Europa – Day 2

Pico del Acero Summit (1675m)

We got up at the same time as yesterday and had breakfast. After breakfast Andy and Julie set off back to their holiday cottage to spend the rest of their holiday there. After filling my 2 litre Platypus hydration pack and a 1.5 litre bottle, I was dropped off in Colio and set off up on my own, to where we stopped yesterday. From here I planned to head up to Pico de la Tarabiella, Pico de la Paña and Pico del Acero. Here I would get a good sample of what the Picos has to offer. When I reached where we stopped the previous day, I had to find my way around a herd. I set off up La Riscos and onto my first peak of the day ‘Pico de la Tarabiella’. At 1099m it was the highest summit I had been on, being bigger than any of Englands mountains. I then walked up the long grassy slope of ‘Pico de la Paña’ and after about 10-20mins I reached the summit at 1356m, now this was the highest summit I’d been up, higher than any of the mountains in England and Wales. I then set off down the grassy slope to the main col and then set off up the steep ground towards the summit of Pico del Acero. Looking at the map I was heading in the right direction but there was a bigger summit behind it. What was this? I decided to head on to the summit of what I thought was Acero and open the map up fully when I got to there to check where I was. I realized after a thorough check on the map that I was on the summit of ‘Pico del Acero’ at 1675m. This was now the highest summit I had been on to that date, higher than Ben Nevis and any other mountain in Great Britain. I descended with joy. When I got back I realised that I had packed another 2 litre bottle in my pack without even seeing it under my jacket. The amount of money you can pay for light weight equipment can all be a waste if you do something stupid like that. A 2 litre bottle of water ways little less than my 2 man tent. We went out for a nice meal in Potes. Before heading back to the cottage.

Wednesday 17^th August – Picos de Europa – Day 3

Mum and Dad on Cosgaya Walk

We got up quite late and after having breakfast headed through Potes and into Cosgaya. We parked at a posh looking hotel in our dirty car and got out in our scruffy holiday vests and shorts with the intention to eat there. Suddenly a waitress came out with concern and asked us to move. We told her we were planning to eat there and thinking very sharp and quickly she said it was fully booked. We were more than happy to leave this posh expensive hotel and move on to a bar, full of scruffy locals and tourists where we felt much more at home. After that we went for a small walk, described In the guide book, following the Rio (River) Cubo uphill, then crossing it and descending the other side. There were plenty of ripe blackberries to enjoy on the descent. When we got back to the car we headed on to Fuente Dé where a lot of tourists were found queuing for the cable cars and eating in the café. The reason for coming here was to have a quick look at where I planned to go the next day. I wanted to do an ascent from Fuente Dé to Peña Vieja. Most walkers and climbers would get a cable car for the 800 metre ascent to the top station at 1800 metres and then head for the summit. There were many reasons I could give for not wanting to take the cable car: saving €15, not having to spend the morning queuing, but to be honest the main reason, if not the only reason I didn’t want to take the cable car, was because I wanted to do it the hard way. Climbing a mountain over 2500m and doing only 800 metres of ascent seemed like cheating. Fuente Dé was still at an altitude of around 1000 metres but it was the lowest place I could start the ascent from that wasn’t miles away. I was still unsure what route up to the cable car station I would take, as I looked up at the frightening cliffs reaching endlessly up through the cloud. But I still wasn’t going to take the cable car unless there was no other way on foot. We set off home and I went to bed at an early time in order to get up for a long day. I had an idea to go up roughly where the cable car went as there looked on the map a way round the cliff faces that way, but there was no path marked.

Thursday 18^th August – Picos de Europa – Day 4

I awoke bright and early to see the skies covered with cloud. Rain looked imminent. I remembered reading that quite often mist filled valleys are likely to mean the peaks will be above the clouds and give a great view. Despite knowing this I decided it would be best not to go up Peña Vieja today. I couldn’t help feeling that I stood a better chance the next day. Me and Dad drove into Potes to get some information on the weather at the tourist info centre.  It is hard to tell what the Spanish weather forecast is trying to say. It is very quick and brief and the tourist information just had pictures to say something along the lines of what the telly said. We realized on the back of a leaflet that the visitors centre in Tama seemed to be of some use to those who were planning on venturing into the mountains. Seeing as Tama was 3 km from our cottage it seemed worth a visit and it was very good. They had a big 1:25000 map on the wall and on it was a a route marked up to the cable car. It went through a gully called ‘canal de la Jenduda’. One of the staff showed me some photos on his laptop of the mountain. It looked fantastic. 

By this time in the day the clouds had disappeared and we decided to go to the coast. We set off at about 2:00pm traveling deeper and deeper into the cloud the further north went. When we got to the coast, it was windy and a bit chilly. We stopped off for lunch at a restaurant before heading back to the cottage, stopping off at a cove on the way. When we got back we ate in and watched a film on the DVD player.

Friday 19^th August – Picos de Europa – Day 5 (The ascent of Peña Vieja)

Ascent through Canal de la Jenduda

I woke up early and had a big breakfast. The clouds were looming but I had a good feeling they were going to clear. We set off for Fuente Dé and arrived at about 10:30am. The map there on the wall showed the same route marked on the map in the visitor’s centre yesterday. I started my ascent at 11:00am. I was confident that the gully would be safe, but I wouldn’t be able to see it fully untill I was standing at the foot of it. Using the trekking poles I worked my way up the scree untill I arrived at the Jenduda gully. Even at the foot of it, it was hard to see what lay ahead. A storm last year had caused a lot of rock to fall in it. As I headed up the gully I realized it was bits of scrambling over rock and carefully making my way up the scree. I was already glad I picked this way, it was far more fun than the cable car could ever be. There was a bit of rope attached to the other side of a huge boulder blocking the path. It soon became clear I needed it to pull myself up and around it, but I couldn’t see what it was attached to on the other side and I the rope looked quite old. So I just did it any way and it turned out all right. As I started to reach the top of the gully, I saw a man coming down. I was already beginning to fear making conversation with him and hoped we would just say “ola” and be done with it. Unfortunately not. He started speaking at a ridiculous speed. I said the only Spanish phrase I know in Spanish, which is “I don’t speak Spanish”. But he just said “ahh! No Espagnol?” and carried on at exactly the same speed but started pointing to random places on the map. It seemed like it wasn’t going to end! He then for some reason started to build a cairn in front of me. My first thought was “I’ll just sneak off and leave the crazy guy to build cairns on his own,” but then I realized he was trying to say follow the cairns. I just said yes a lot and thank you and we then continued with our days. I went to the cable car platform to text Mum and Dad. I could get a signal here. The station was very busy. Although it was at 1800 metres it had a restaurant and a tourist shop as well as various other things. I headed towards Peña Vieja. The closer I got to it the fewer tourists I saw in trainers and shorts and the more walkers I came past with trekking poles and boots. I knew I was on the right track but had a horrible thought going through my head, suggesting I might have missed the turn off. I knew on the map that I hadn’t but just to shut the thought up I finally asked a man coming down the track I was on, “Peña Vieja?” Pointing to the direction with my trekking pole. He spoke some English and basically just said when to turn off at and that the views were good on top. I continued on up the track and then took the turn off path to the mountain. I headed higher and higher until I came to a small col between two peaks and ahead of me lay a bigger col and a huge steep peak. There was a guy chilling out on the ground, listening to his Ipod. I pointed to the peak and said “Peña Vieja?” he gave me the thumbs up. This was a big summit. I had gotten to about 2400m and ahead of me lay this steep ascent to a pointy top. I headed across the col keeping to the path away from what looked like shake holes. Then I headed up the steep scree until I came to the summit about 30 minutes later. 

Looking at summit of Peña Vieja

Torrecerredo and the surrounding mountains

On the summit of Peña Vieja (2613m)

To the south lay the surrounding foot hills of the Picos. A steep drop below me lay ‘Peña Olvidada’ a peak only accessible on a rope. For this reason many people go on to Peña Vieja, hence its name ‘Forgotten Peak’. To the north a quilt of cloud hid the valleys. Whilst the mighty peaks tore through it. To the Northwest stood the king of the Picos ‘Torrecerredo (2648m)’. Peña Vieja had been an objective for the past 4 months and here I was finally stood on it. At 2613 metres (8573 feet) it was by far the biggest mountain I had been on. After a lot of photos, I descended at a decent speed with the trekking poles down the mountain and along the col, then back to the cable car and down the gully. I slipped at one point and the fall wouldn’t have been anything too bad but one of my poles jammed in the rock and pole-vaulted me forwards. I was fine but I’d broken one of my £10 poles. After beating the handle against a rock I managed to close it enough to put it in my rucksack with the other one. The next bit of terrain needed hands more than poles anyway. After climbing down past the big boulder with the rope attached to it I saw a chamois, on its own, looking up at me. I gradually descended down closer and closer towards it but it didn’t move until I was very close. It then ran up a scree slope to a herd of about 10 other chamois. I looked up at the cable car making its way up in a rapid ascent and thought about all the stuff its passengers were missing. I remembered a sentence from Edmund Hillary’s auto Biography ‘Nothing Venture, Nothing Win’ Where he said “There are plenty of tamed wonders for all to goggle at through vehicle windows - we must also retain our wilderness areas where nature can develop in its own calm way and where only those humans who are prepared to walk and sweat a little qualify to go.” The two cable cars run all day and between them take 40 people up in about 3 minutes. I had only met one guy today doing my route to the same place through the gully. We only need to give a good bit of hard work before we can share sites like a herd of chamois resting on a mountain slope with that very small percentage of this earth that have discovered peace in wilderness. At this point I realized that through all the adventures I have been on in the past 6 months, at 15 I had seen more beauty than some people 4 times my age have ever seen. I arrived back at the car park at Fuente Dé and had an ice cream with Mum and Dad who arrived shortly after me in the car. When we got back we ate out at a really nice place in Potes looking out of the 1^st floor window on to the street.

A Chamois

Saturday 20^th August – Picos de Europa – Day 6

We got up late and after a lot of time deciding what to do for the day we ended up just driving to places we thought might be interesting. Mum and Dad had spent a lot of time in their holiday worrying about me, while I was up in the mountains. Dad is scared of heights so as well as worrying about me on the mountains, he has also been taken on a few walks by me and Mum this holiday that he didn’t particularly enjoy. So it seemed only fair that I should just do what they wanted to do for this day. But I won’t go into unnecessary detail about the day. We went to a church. It wasn’t open so we headed around for a bit in the car before heading for the coast. Dad particularly enjoys the beach, so we decided to go there for the rest of the day. On the way we stopped off at a roadside restaurant for lunch. When we arrived at the sea, I noticed there were a lot of caves around. I wished I’d brought my head torch so I could have had a look, but as Dad pointed out it’s not the kind of thing you’d think of taking to the seaside. Me and Mum went swimming in the sea while Dad lay in the sand. We then went back to the cottage where dad used up the stuff in the fridge by making a tomato based mountain stew. There was a huge lightning storm just before we ate. We all just sat and watched. I never knew lightning could strike in so many different ways. We watched a film and went to bed.

River running through Potes

Sunday 21^st August – Picos de Europa – Day 7 (our last day)

Potes

We didn’t really do much on our last day but we had a nice time. We got up late and lounged around for a bit before heading into Potes for some Tapas. This is perhaps the best way to fill your family up and actually costs less than the ‘meal of the day’ option. We went for a very pleasant stroll along the river bank before going to a lovely building called Torre del Infantado. From the top of this tower great views of the town can be seen. The temperature was 38 degrees celsius and the air was humid. We went back to the cottage and Dad continued to read his book while Mum and I ended up watching lots of Modern family episodes from a box set. After this we went and had our best meal yet at a restaurant looking over the river, which was very good seen as it was our last night. Another thunder storm came and we waited for the rain to die down before making a dash back to the car. When we got back we watched more Modern Family before going to bed. 

The journey home

We got up early Sunday morning and after Mum and Dad did the last bit of packing we drove to Santander where we boarded the ferry. I took some more of those wine gum travel sickness things and they actually did the trick this time. After spending the afternoon doing very little, we had a meal in the ferry restaurant, before me and Mum played air hockey and we all went back to the cabin to sleep. I was sleeping well and so was Dad, but unfortunately Mum wasn’t. If Mum doesn’t sleep well, then she’s so grumpy the next day that you have to avoid speaking to her. She said she got to sleep at 4am. This would have given her 6 hours sleep which you can sometimes get away with communicating with her on. It’s 5am and we’re both woken up by Dad who’s amazed by dolphins outside the ship. Me and Mum got up. “Wow! oh Wow!” Dad shouts, forgetting with all his excitement that the rest of the passengers are on the ship asleep. Me and Mum were too grumpy to put up with this kind of noise at this time at night, so Mum gave him a telling off. “But I just saw one standing up on its tail!” He said. Me and Mum got up and looked outside the window. It was dark and hard to see but you could see the waves breaking. Dad was convinced these were dolphins. So much so that he got us all out of bed to go and stand on the deck and look. It was about 30mins before Mum went back to bed with no signs of any dolphins. I was a bit annoyed at Dad for making Mum run on only 5 hours sleep the next day. However I stayed out for a longer time, still believing Dad who was utterly convinced. Suddenly we saw something “wow” I said, soon realizing what it was. Dad on the other hand continued to shout in excitement and point. “It’s just like the one I saw!” He continues to say. “wow!” I was a bit cheesed off at this point, I realized how stupid I was to trust this deluded man. “It’s a seagull!” I growled in a frustrated voice. Dad squinted at the seagull a few times, still unsure, before it flew off out of the water, and he finally realized. I then found out that all the other times Dad was shouting Dolphin and I thought I’d missed it, that they were underwater and what he could see was the light reflecting off there bellies. What I could see with my better eye sight was actually the light of the ship reflecting off braking waves. We went back to bed. 

The next morning Dad was being very friendly to Mum and even me as it happens. He had gotten up 30mins earlier than us and had been up on deck. He admitted that he noticed how far out the waves were breaking and it was clear he was starting to realize that he didn’t see any dolphins and he didn’t have a talent for seeing light reflect off their bellies as they swam underwater. We waited for the ship to dock before driving off it and slowly making our way back to Cumbria.

We all really enjoyed the holiday. I loved the Picos de Europa and I wish I could have spent more time walking and perhaps have done some climbing with a guide, but it is important to balance the holiday out. We’re all quite different in what we like. Mum’s ideal holiday would be horse riding through Texas, Dad’s would be lying on a beach in Gran Canaria and for me, if I had to plan a week it would involve a tent, a stove and lots of mountains. I would love to come back to the Picos sometime with like minded people, and spend the time climbing and Walking up the mountains. But I was aware before I came that the most important thing to do was spend time as a family and I did that pretty well.

Thanks for Reading if you got this far.

Feel free to post comments.