Last Day....Finish with a Bang!

Well, today starts the last day of a fantastic adventure through the northern mountains in Spain and what a great hike it has been!  We take a last look at the Cares River as we make our way out of Arenas de Cabrales and walk buy the famous caves where the blue cheese of Cabrales is aged.  Unlike most blue cheese which is injected with penicillin to create the blue veins, the growing penicillin in these caves naturally penetrates the aging cheese to create something rather special...not Don's favourite though!

Our hike today was designed to take us up to one of the best views of the Picos de Europa.  This would require us to hike up over 1500 meters and 16km for the day.  The morning didn't look too promising as the clouds had socked in the mountains as we were setting off.  We took the chance anyway in hope that the clouds would lift by the time we reached the summit.  As you'll see from some of the pictures, the clouds did lift enough for us to  get great views of the summit.  On the way however, we climbed through clouds along the old Roman road with 96% humidity and soaked to the skin in sweat.  The sun would appear in the afternoon to dry us off as usual and stay with us to our final destination in Sotres.

The Cares River

Our ascent out of Arenas de Cabrales took us through a forest of very old Chestnut trees.  Beautiful old trees but had a creepy, Harry Potter feel about them.

Last night's village getting smaller as we climb higher.

Walking up the old Roman road, still in place after all these years but a little hard on your feet after hours of climbing.

Tres Amigos in a tree . . soaked to the skin in their own sweat . .

And the Roman Road goes on and up . . . 

We have climbed up into the clouds at this point but can just see the peaks of the mountains above the clouds across the valley.

Abandoned Shepherd's Cottage

Shepherd's huts and walled grazing fields

Hungry hikers find their lunch perch spot perched on a hill.

Shepherds hamlet of Tordin, shortly before reaching the summit.  The clouds are starting to chase up from behind so we get moving.

The next pictures are all from the summit above Tielve.

Posing at the summit behind the stone marker to the National Park 

The village of Sotres, our destination for the night

We ran out of water today, an hour before the end of our hike . . so these were very welcome!!

Gorgeous Gorge.....Living on the Edge!

Wow, what an amazing day.  Today was our most spectacular scenery as we cut through two of the three Mastifs of the Picos de Europa.  We set off from Posada de Valdeon after a relatively meagre breakfast at our hotel and headed into the Cares Gorge.  We slept to the roar of the Cares River last night and would experience its's rumble for the rest of the day.  We were awed by the thunder of the waterfalls and sheer volume of water pouring from the snow melting in the highest peaks.

We took a few detours on the first 9km's of our trip to see an overlook , a suspension bridge and an ancient wolf trap...you can see those below.  After a quick lunch stop in the village of Cain, we set off for our 14 km walk through the gorge...with such fantastic weather, albeit a bit hot, we were rewarded with view after view.  Have a look!

Another Grain Hut as we left the village of Posada de Valdeon.

Our Gang posing at the Tombo Lookout

Don, just before he walked the suspension bridge across the Cares Gorge and back.

Beautiful walk through narrow pastures along the Gorge.

This is an old Spanish Wolf trap where the wolves were coaxed through a V-shaped walled area into the trap at the end.

 More views of the Cares River gaining momentum further down the Gorge.

More views of the Gorge.

Bridge across the Gorge.

Don, Shelagh and Pete on the bridge.

Mountain Goat posing.

Incredible beauty along the trail

For most of today we stayed relatively flat while the river plunged deeper and deeper into the Gorge.

Getting close to his beer at the end of the trail.

Living on the Edge!!