Day One---The Downs and Ups of it all!

Finally a day of hiking after all is that not why we are here????  We bid good-bye to our new found four legged friends, or so we thought and slowly descended out of town.  As we slowly wound our way out of Cohecha on route for Tollo (toy oh), we were followed by all the dogs we encountered along the way.  I suspect that the vast dog population of the region, all part Bernese Mountain dog as well as a good helping of something else, are all out door dogs and crave any type of human interaction available.  We, happened to be it, as they followed along for at least 6 or 7 km's before latching on to the next group of walkers heading the other direction.

And they are still following!

Our last glimpse of  Cohecha as we start our descent of 900 meters enroute to Potes where we have planned a lunch stop.

Fig tree

Wild Cherry trees every where!

Cork Oak tree...take a close look at the trunk of this tree.  The lower portion has been farmed for it's cork and very close to the top of the photo you can see where the cork remains.

Some of the largest trees I have ever seen...Chestnut trees

And another even larger Chestnut tree!

Bambi seen along the way.

Close to our destination we hiked through the abandoned village of Porcieda, where in addition to many ancient, empty buildings we found a grouping of horses with foal.

The medieval tower in Potes at the river.

Street in old town of Potes

We arrived in Potes just in time for lunch, 12:00 . . . wrong!!!  No lunch is served before 2:00!!  So, we improvised, bought cheese, bread and Serrano ham for a picnic lunch and moved on.

Although we had many threatening clouds today, we stayed dry.  Here you can see the Picos towering through the clouds in the distance.

On our way into our destination village outside Tollo.

We arrived at our destination in Tollo, a very rustic Inn in the village of Tollo.  Our host Ricardo and his wife Maria gave us a very warm welcome, with beer, wine, Cava and a fantastic gourmet meal.  Pete and Don then retired to the living room to watch the Portugal - Spain world cup match.  Amazing Day!!

Total descent.......900 meters
Total ascent..........700 meters
Distance..............15km