Yesterday was my first forray into the Picos de Europa it was hot but beautiful. I managed to bag one Pico (Pico Soliveno 1226m) despite having a less than great 1:40.000 map (1:25.000 is what I normally use). The true Picos are hard to get at from Potes. It was a fairly tough 4 hour run /walk, and that is to one of the smaller Picos they go upto 2,000 + mteres. It also feels a bit exposed as their are some steep cliffs and in the entire 4 hours i saw one guy about 20 minutes after leaving the road. The lake district it isnt. For solitude its unbeatable. But on you own these could be dangerous hills. Picos sounds cute but these have a bite to them. My next trip will be tomorrow Friday up to Sierra De La Viorna the same name as the campsite I am staying, and looming 1100 meters above.
Earlier today (Wednesday 18th May) I walked to the Monastry about 2 miles uphill from the campsite. It is a beautiful building and very peacefull. Or it was until all the tourist coaches came and emtied out their hoardes. I half expected Brendan (coach trip tv programme C4) and his union jack topped coach to pull up. I then walked to Santa Catalina, I assume it is a dug out relic of an ancient place of worship, all the info was Spanish, so that was me stumped and guessing. Then I met a charming Spanish chap at San Miguel (same deal as Santa Catalina but not a relic, forgot photo) who insisted on showing me Potes far below. He thought me looking at a map meant that I was lost. Half an hour after trying to explain the Pico in the distance that I was on yesterday. I realised I could show him the pictures on my camera. I will look up the Spanish for yesterday. The trip ended with a visit to la Isla the campsite I should be at, but went wrong on the way here. I think I struck lucky though the views here are much better.
I have posted, and will continue to post most of my photos on picasa just go through the folders for the relevant days.
https://picasaweb.google.com/102186521105057411582/
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