So off we speed in a big coach full of loudly excited Spanish teachers and their spouses whilst my friends and I are still wiping the sleep dust from our eyes. We're heading to Peña Sagra, a mountain nestled within a mountain range that borders los picos de Europa. After a couple of hours of zooming down country lanes and round the feet of several great, grey mountains, our walk beings on an challenging upward incline; I can already tell that this isn't going to be some kind of countryside stroll!
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| we were just getting going and yet check out the views! |
The journey up is arduous but satisfying as we're almost immediately greeted by beautiful views of the surrounding mountains. After a little while I spot a few deer high up the side of the mountain and realise how glad I am to be outside and away from Torre; it's not like I dislike living in a city but I always feel more "myself" when I'm away from all the people and noise of urban living. The Spanish group who we're with are so friendly, interesting and interested in ourselves. It's always great when my tendency to pigeonhole 'the Spanish' as a loud, showy lot is debunked from conversation with actual individual Spanish people.
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| break time: "say 'Buuuugle'!" |
After a quick break we continue on up where the incline becomes suddenly more sheer and precarious. It's tiring work but throughout the journey I'm stunned by panoramic views of both the Cantabrian coast and the stark, desolate outline of los picos. Following a tricky route over an area giant, eroding rocks, we've finally reached the top! The view, well, here's some shots from the top:
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| endless sky |
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| feeling pretty pleased with ourselves! |
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| jus' chillin' on this big ol' rock |
...pretty amazing! The descent, as always, is the less enjoyable part of our journey and the next day my legs were scratched and burning from an hour of uncomfortable stumbling/near-tripping down a steep incline covered in pricky gorse. After the momentary trapse through gorse hell, however, the rest of the journey was lovely and full of wildlife - including wild horses - and lots of farm animals towards the foot of the mountain.
After approx seven hours of hiking we were rewarded with a stop at the nearest bar, where we enjoyed bowls of unshelled walnuts - lots of fun had trying to work out how to actually open them - and huge 1.5 pints of cerveza! 'Salud' to an awesome day!
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| relishing that sit down like no one's biz |
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