Hiking the Picos de Europa...Day 7
Sotres to Bulnes to Poncebos
Today we are off on a very steep 6 mile downhill hike (4,001 foot of a descent!) to the hamlet of Poncebo.
When we started our hike at Pontebano, we saw a female cow licking her calf in the warm morning sunshine. It was a heartwarming sight.
A bit further down the trail we walked thru a wall of ferns and guess who surprised us by sticking out her head as we walked by?
In fact, there were many cows happily grazing in the foliage.
So, in case you're wondering how the shepherd keeps his cows, goats, and sheep in certain grazing area in the high alpine areas,
So, in case you're wondering how the shepherd keeps his cows, goats, and sheep in certain grazing area in the high alpine areas,
yup, by using old bed boxsprings to make the perfect pasture gate! We've seen quite a few while hiking in the Picos de Europa.
We headed down the valley and then
the fog rolled in
and our once lovely blue sky hiking day became one of a foggy, steep, quite slippery, rocky way down to Bulnes.
Bulnes is a small rustic hamlet that until recently was totally isolated from road access. In fact, its only access was available by foot from the village of Poncebo on the canyon floor below or from the village of Pandebano on the long slippery trail we had just traveled.
However, recently they built a funicular to encourage tourism. The funicular connects the village of Bulnes to Poncebo on the canyon floor below. It transports food and mail from down below to Bulnes.
Bulnes is a unique, rustic village which houses only 10 or so neighbors.
Instead of taking the funicular, we decided we'd hike the snake-like steep trail down the canyon to Poncebo.
So off we went
So off we went
You can see the trail in the background.
It soon became clear why the once isolated village of Bulnes built the funicular to get down the canyon.
Only another few hours until I reach the river below.
It was very rugged terrain.
Here's the bridge that took us over the river
at the bottom of the gorge
to a stone bridge
which led us to Poncebo! Quite a hike!
We were picked up by our driver who drove us on a hair-raising 45 minute trip over the serpentine mountain roads to the Picos de Europa Hotel in Trieve.