Picos de Europa, Pica Fuente Soles (1564m)

After a very smooth travel day, my student expedition group and I flew over the Bay of Biscay and arrived at the North Coast of Spain  by evening, en route to the mountains of the Picos de Europa. To break up the journey to the mountains, we stayed at a campsite down by the beach. It was a beautiful, deserted spot and were all surprised to find the temperatures were cooler than back home in Wales!

This morning, having got some supplies, we weaved our way up the single track roads into the mountains of the Picos, to the little village of Sotres. 

Here we began our acclimatisation hike up the small peak of ‘Pica Fuente Soles’. Armed with Phil Lawler’s brand new Guidebook, we enjoyed a great day at just the right level for our first day in the hills. It’s been ten years since Clare and I spent the summer rock climbing and exploring these mountains. Can you believe we drove here from Wales in our Escort Van! It seems like so long ago, but some of the views soon came back to me. I loved remembering how we climbed the big slabs in the top right of the photo below; a real adventure!



The meadows were in full bloom and we couldn’t avoid stepping on a few flowers! 



The lads set a good pace and despite the threatening dark clouds, we made the summit around 14:00, without the need for waterproofs. 



We spent s good half an hour on top, eating, looking and bird watching. There were some enormous Iberian Vultures circling around us. I think they must usually hang out on the summit as they looked surprised to see us! One glided past at eye level only about ten metres away. A real treat!



Getting back down was pretty quick even though we stopped to slide about on a big snow patch. It feels really wild here. We only saw two other people all day, and would you believe it, they were from Llanfairfechan in North Wales! A town about fifteen minutes from The Cottage!



Tonight we are staying in a cabin on the edge of Arenas de Cabrales. Having sent the team out to source an evening meal, they came up trumps with delicious burgers with famous Cabrales cheese, and all within budget! Mmmm...