Through the Cares Gorge

The Cares Gorge is billed as one of the most famous walks in Spain and according to our Guidebook “no trip the the Picos would be complete without a journey through the Cares Gorge”. It’s a long trip with no escape routes. The guide said 11km to the village of Cain at the far end. My GPS said it was more like 15km! And then you have to get back again! It’s a 120km journey around the National Park by car, so we opted to return on foot, giving us a very respectable 30km outing! 

We set off in the coolnof the morning from the end of the road above Poncebos.

Right from the start, the scenery is fantastic.

The path climbs up a bit and then traverses alongvte hillsides above the river.



Seemingly at every turn there is another bit of geology and geography to wonder at.



At times the Gorge is very narrow and at times it wides right out and the turquoise river shows it’s rapids.



Where it gets too narrow, there are tunnels cut through the rock.



The lads walked fast and took about three hours to get to the village of Cain. We were hot and sweaty, but pleased to have made it in the Guidebook time. We had a big lunch down by the river, got our boots off and crashed out. I went for a paddle in the river - it was very cold but very refreshing. 



At 14:30 we got up for the return journey. The views were different going in a different direction and the sun had moved around shading different cliff faces.



I’ve rarely had such a fast group. We were averaging 6km/h and at times 7km/h which was great as usually, we plan around 3 or 4kn/h! We got back through at 17:00 and rewarded ourselves with a ice cream before heading back to camp for some much needed showers. The clouds are indicating a change in the weather, but hopefully nothing too much as the next few days we are heading up into the high mountains...