September 24-October 2nd, 2018
9 Days Hiking the Picos de Europa
Santander is a mere 70 miles from the Picos de Europa National Park, but it might as well be a world away! In our steep high alpine hikes, we experienced 7 out of 10 days of not seeing anyone on the trails or in the hiking area itself except for a few lone wandering sheepherders. We stayed in little hamlets nestled in these steep mountains and fell in love with this pristine wilderness way of life in the Picos de Europa.
We are on the self-guided portion of our trip thru a 20 year old company specializing in this area called S-cape. The beauty is that they arrange all our transfers and hotel reservations since they have the local knowledge of the area. The best part is that they move our bags from point a to point b and all we have to do is carry our day packs and hike the many miles in the mountains between the two towns. It is a very smooth transition for travelling especially in the mountains.
Day1 and Day 2
Our ALSA bus dropped us off in Unquera and there our taxi, pre-arranged by S-Cape, was waiting for us. We were driven 20 miles, which took us an hour on the serpentine mountainous roads, to the village of Arenas De Cabrales where our hotel, appropriately named, Hotel Picos de Europa, was to be our home for the following 2 nights.
We are on the self-guided portion of our trip thru a 20 year old company specializing in this area called S-cape. The beauty is that they arrange all our transfers and hotel reservations since they have the local knowledge of the area. The best part is that they move our bags from point a to point b and all we have to do is carry our day packs and hike the many miles in the mountains between the two towns. It is a very smooth transition for travelling especially in the mountains.
Day1 and Day 2
Our ALSA bus dropped us off in Unquera and there our taxi, pre-arranged by S-Cape, was waiting for us. We were driven 20 miles, which took us an hour on the serpentine mountainous roads, to the village of Arenas De Cabrales where our hotel, appropriately named, Hotel Picos de Europa, was to be our home for the following 2 nights.
The following morning we hiked out of the quiet village on a loop trail from Arenas to Nava. It was a beautiful, clear blue sky day with fantastic visibility, the perfect complement for an adventure in the mountains.
These mountains are jagged limestone sentinels which have an unusual terrain and seemingly untamed hillsides with very long steep climbs to scenic ridges but once there provide magnificent views.
It was a beautiful day for our 7 mile trek where we ascended 2,113 vertical feet and hiked on rocky limestone trails thru varied landscapes. Often when the trail goes up it is on a narrow goat path.
These mountains are jagged limestone sentinels which have an unusual terrain and seemingly untamed hillsides with very long steep climbs to scenic ridges but once there provide magnificent views.
It was a beautiful day for our 7 mile trek where we ascended 2,113 vertical feet and hiked on rocky limestone trails thru varied landscapes. Often when the trail goes up it is on a narrow goat path.
We traversed from one col to the next and then the next across the ridge.
On the third col we saw a herd of 50 plus sheep well camouflaged in the limestone terrain.
We stopped at the third col and had lunch enjoying the amazing panoramic view of the spectacular Picos de Europa peaks. We could see up and down two separate valleys!
After more traversing, we headed down
and our trail disappeared!
We were hiking high on top of limestone, which was "polished", the product of having been weathered heavily by both wind and rain over centuries, creating a slippery rock surface.
The limestone resembled large crevasses and jagged edges sticking up making travel very precarious.
We finally made it down to the trail below
having come down from this massive limestone massif.
Off in the distance, we could make out our destination.
We passed an old shepherd's hut and there were sheep grazing nearby.
In a while, we could see once again the red-roofed quiet village of Arenas de Cabrales far down below.
It was a glorious albeit steep hike today where we were totally immersed in the Picos de Europa's serene scenic beauty and the wonders of nature.