September 26th
Day 3 Hiking Tielve to Sotres
Today we will hike 6 miles with a 2,002 vertical ascent and 1,000 foot descent from the small village of Tielve to the tiny hamlet of Sotres, the highest village in the Picos de Europa.
With our bags packed, our driver picked us up and drove us for 20 minutes along a narrow, serpentine road to Tielve de Cabrales a very small village in the Picos de Europa mountains. This will be the start of today's hike to the hamlet of Sotres. After dropping us off at the trailhead, our driver will continue on with our bags to Sotres where they'll be waiting for us at the Sotres Hotel at the end of today's hike.
Tielve is a mountain village where people still make a living raising high alpine cattle and sheep and producing the famous blue cheese, Queso de Cabrales. Tielve has a lovely church with houses perched on the steep hillside.
The trail started up quickly and soon we were above Tielve
and higher than the grazing sheep.
Hiking up to the first ridge and then the col, we had beautiful views.
Once over the ridge, we came across these friendly fellows.
They turned their heads to make sure that we were on our way.
We passed summer huts for the shepherds
The high meadow alpine views were spectacular!
We continued ascending the steep incline.
until we reached a seemingly endless field of ferns.
we were rewarded with a panoramic view of the Picos de Europa mountains. It was a beautiful bucolic scene right out of a picture postcard.
Every step of the way today it was hard to imagine a more peaceful, serene spot.
As we descended we soon spotted our day's destination, Sotres!
This peaceful hamlet of Sotres, the highest village in the Picos de Europa, would be our home for the next four nights.
