Bavaria, Lake Como, Madrid, Nthn Spain & Barcelona

[love_the_life]

It looks an amazing experience. Unfortunately it would not be on my bucket list, a) I am not nearly fit enough and b) that path looks awfully narrow and those cliffs look awfully steep. Thanks for the great pics and description though as I can walk it vicariously!

 

[RB]

It looks an amazing experience. Unfortunately it would not be on my bucket list, a) I am not nearly fit enough and b) that path looks awfully narrow and those cliffs look awfully steep. Thanks for the great pics and description though as I can walk it vicariously!

I am glad you are enjoying the read. Apart from the first and last 45 minutes or so, it was a reasonably easy walk but did require stamina. I think they say the path is about 1.5metres wide most of the way

 

[RB]

Day 3- Well the old bodies pull up surprisingly well & with a bit of rain forecast for the afternoon we opt for a walk to nearby Poo (actually quite a nice little village)-this is via a famers track and affords great valley views through the ever present birch and beech forests. We catch some photos of distant caves before retracing our steps. Back in town we hike to the Church & push upward for some different district views.

Food wise at Arenas de Cabrales we enjoyed breakfast at the early opening bakery, Bar El Trasgu with its burgers, beers & white wine and dinners at Cafeteria Santelmo (popular with the locals where they play cards & socialise)- various dishes including the local speciality Fabada Austurian-traditionally a mix of meat & beans that we only needed to try once!

Poo from a distance

Beaut setting as we approached Poo
A different church design we saw in Poo
Looking down at Arenas de Cabrales
Caves out of Poo & the ever present limestone rock

 

[RB]

Arenas de Cabrales to Potes- Asturias to Cantabria
Short in distance but outstandingly scenic, this transfer involved 2 bus rides. The first bus arrived 5 min or so early which caused us a bit of confusion. It was chiefly a school bus run so we got to enjoy a few forays off the highway up into the ever present hillside villages. Our 1st stop was Panes-another scenic town with a riverside setting & mountain backdrop. They have developed an excellent riverside park & we came across some locals who were super happy with their 2 fish catch. We spent the rest of the 2hr layover in a coffee shop/bar-it was interesting to watch the interaction between the owner & his regulars. Bus 2 was a company we had not used previously (Palomera) but they were spot on time & we left from the unmarked bus stop we had been directed to by helpful locals. The drive was through La Hermida (which we saw mentioned as Cares Gorge for cars!). The turns grew ever tighter with a narrow highway snaking through the high limestone peaks. We seem to have constant views of the ravine that contains the Deva river. Near Potes the landscape widens & it was funny to see one of the Great Pyrenees dogs having a game with some of his sheep. Arrival was on time.

Between Cabrales & Panes


Another spot between Cabrales & Panes

Very happy angler in Panes


A 12 kilo salmon mounted in Panes-keen fishers here. It was interesting to read that around 2009/10 cormorents had moved onto parts of the river around this area & had basically wiped out the trout

 

[RB]

Around Potes
Rest of Day 1- we shop for breakfast goods & drinks at the 2 supermarkets- about a 5 min walk from our apartment. There are plenty of people in town on bus tours & the restaurant touts are out in some laneways-plenty of twists & turns in the streets, cobblestones, passageways & narrow bridges. Although the city of Potes suffered destruction in 1936 during the civil war, the Barrio Viejo, the old district in the heart of the city, preserved a spectacular medieval aspect. The two old bridges "puente de San Cayetano" and "puente de la Carcel" contribute significantly to that environment of past centuries. During the afternoon we hike up to Mayor Sanctuary- the path starts just behind our apartments & is a good track on a steady climb. We pass plenty of veggie gardens & more of the Pyrenean mountain dogs. The tourist info office provides some good materials-unfortunately the weather forecast involves plenty of low cloud so a planned visit to Fuente De the next day is scrapped. We enjoy a reasonable pizza at La Serna-Polish waiter who has spent 7 yrs in Majorca amongst other spots.

Photos are scenes around Potes-behind those clouds there are several more levels of peaks . Photo 1 is a fresh milk dispensing machine, something we had not seen before

 

[RB]

Day 2- overnight thunderstorms, drizzle & low morning cloud confirm our decision to skip Fuente De. We hike a relatively flat walk to Tama –takes us along the river & through farmlands. Our turnaround is at the new visitors centre at Satoma-great educational spot seemingly in the middle of nowhere-some great photos, displays & general info- a virtual tour of the Picos de Europa, visiting the landscape, geomorphology, fauna, flora, mining and how they have been influenced by the rivers and humans through years. Back in Potes things are much quieter than yesterday-it must not be Potes turn for the tour buses today.
Dinner was at La Soldreria-only 2 reviews on Trip Advisor, both in Spanish but the Polish pizza waiter had told us the food was so good it made him cry! Fantastic food & a great bar area with outdoor space for smokers or a night of better weather. Wonderful home made sauces that were kept separate to the food. Probably preferred the chicken to the pasta. Don’t think I have eaten nicer chips/potato chunks (cayenne pepper with 3 sauces)!

The ever present low cloud, again several levels hidden here


The track to Tama


Keen veggie gardeners around here


Cedar pumps at every table-not for us though


The great potato chunks

 

[RB]

I have posted a review of our apartment at Potes here http://www.australianfrequentflyer....reviews/villa-de-potes-potes-spain-69488.html

Day 3- Still plenty of low cloud so no Fuente De for us. The out and back hike to Porcieda & Tudes starts just behind our apartment. The outward journey is uphill but seems to be one of those inclines where you can get in a good rhythm & keep going without burning out. The track is very well signposted, varies from pavement to good dirt and in a very few spots deteriorates to a narrow rocky track of sharp stones. We pass northern cork oak forest and there are always cloud covered peaks for viewing. As we near Porcieda we break out into a wider valley & green pastures. The village has been abandoned for some time but the chapel complete with baling twine off the bell is in reasonable condition. A sign for a bar 1km inspires us but when we reach Tudes, the English Tavern is closed. A few locals are working their vegie gardens but there is not much other sign of life-the church is locked so it is outside viewing only but nearby was an impressive cemetery.
On the return journey we encounter our 1[SUP]st[/SUP] other hikers for the day-only 7 in total. The highlight of our return walk (always seem shorter on the way back) is when we stop to photograph a couple of Great Pyrenees dogs. They soon become distracted from work, play roughly with each other & enjoy our attention through the fence. Total walking and gorking time was around 3.5 hrs for about 12 km and a 400 metre rise. Downtown Potes had half a dozen or so coaches around lunch time. We had another nice dinner at a packed La Soldreria-this time in the very stylish dining area.

More beautiful land


Opening out as we near Porcieda

Baling twine comes in useful


An incomplete refurbishment

Track back to Potes

 

[RB]

A couple of photos of the "protection" dogs


Cemetry space is at a premium

Cork tree-wonder about the future for this


Potes fish shop in action

 

[Julesmac]

Terrific TR, really enjoying it

 

[RB]

Potes to San Vicente de la Barquera
There are only 2 bus services daily so we were on the 8.30am and were joined by a max of 6 others for the spectacular 1hr ride, 40km ride. Initially it was back through the La Hermida & an interesting encounter with another bus on one of the many tight turns. We crossed from Cantabria to Asturias & back again. Once back through Panes the trip undertook a rapid & massive change from the surrounds we had enjoyed since we had arrived at Cangas de Onis. Quickly the Picos were gone and replaced by beautiful broad river flats & farmland-basically 25 minutes from the mountains to the sea. The last km or so gave us a preview of the layout of San Vicente. We reached the bus station at its idyllic surrounds on time. The walk to our apartment is a 10 min stroll along the seaside promenade (low tide at the time) past multiple motorhomes enjoying the free parking and stallholders setting up for the weekly markets.

The drivers are on alert around this section



The last of the mountains


Rapid change of scenery


Great river flats


Low tide for our arrival-plenty of contrast photos to follow

 

[ellen10]

The photos are great. Thanks for posting.

 

[RB]

I have posted a review of our San Vicente apartment here http://www.australianfrequentflyer....s/apartments-rincon-del-puerto-san-69571.html

Around San Vicente
Day 1-The stick carrying farmers are replaced by fishermen. This is obviously a popular weekend spot on the west coast of Cantabria with the restaurant lined seafront brimming full of day trippers at lunchtime. The port remains the focus of life but there are a few beaches. The Camino de Santiago attracts walkers here (with a nearby split of 2 routes). There is a strong architectural heritage with the Gothic church, Santa Maria de los Angeles dating back to the 13[SUP]th[/SUP] century and enjoying national heritage status since 1929. Other “must sees” include the Faro Punta De La Silla, El Castillo Y Las Murallas & Sanctuario De La Barquera.
We locate a supermarket (seems to be at least 3 in town) & stock our fridge. The markets are a similar mix to those of many European towns & it only takes a short time to stroll through. We again encounter a milk drink dispensing machine. The level walk out to the jetty is amazingly easy after the Picos and further reinforces the primary role of the fishing industry-they obviously are used to managing the tides as we witness massive changes of water levels & channel flow during the day.
The day was ended with a wild thunderstorm. We had walked to a recommended restaurant but that was closed so luckily we returned to near our apartment. We ate (upstairs) and the downstairs area copped the brunt of the rapid runoff coming from the bridge, the gutters being unable to cope. Apparently the worst flooding they had ever encountered! For us an entertaining show of lightning, thunder, wild winds, people with failing umbrellas, the sand flats flooding into the river etc

View to the ocean



Santa Maria

Low tide in the backwaters

Built for those escaping to Spain

View from Church of Santa Maria

 

[RB]

Day 2 San Vicente
Some blue sky this morning but thunderstorms expected again in the afternoon. Sunday morning in San Vicente is very quiet. We opt for a circular walk from town that took in Punta Linera, La Regatona, Cueto Marias and Playa de Fuentes. We had a good description of the track with us but many of the waypoints/signs appeared to be missing. There were some asphalt roads but quite a lot of time is spent walking on pastures and rocky coastline. Overall a fantastic walk with fine views of the Cantabrian Sea, rocky coast, beautiful pastures and some of the Picos peaks STILL shrouded in low cloud. The highlight though was the beach of Fuentes- one of the nicest descents of a long inland cove you can imagine. Back in town, the well dressed were doing the Sunday promenade. To our surprise the Sunday night the dining options were pretty restricted-many were closed & others were on restricted menus-we ended up with a couple of pretty average seafood pizzas from Giorgio. Mrs RB was very impressed by the white wine from Restaurant Las Redes-he had a very impressively stocked bar & had set himself apart from the many other bars that were similar to each other

Taken at the lighthouse

Another view from the lighthouse

Lazy days

Distant Picos still hidden by cloud

Could get right to the waters edge in spots

 

[RB]

Fuentes Beach

Back in town, the rewards for effort

 

[love_the_life]

The country looks lovely and the walks sound interesting and challenging. Is the weather pattern normal with so much rain and thunderstorms? You have had a lot of them.

 

[RB]

The country looks lovely and the walks sound interesting and challenging. Is the weather pattern normal with so much rain and thunderstorms? You have had a lot of them.

I think we were a bit early in the season and the Picos is known for bad weather. There was not a big volume of rain and for us the biggest problem was the low level cloud. Realistically in Spain we missed Lake Covadonga and Fuente De in Potes so we were probably lucky overall. We have had a good run in Europe over the years so can't really complain. Glad you are enjoying the read

 

[RB]

Day 3 San Vicente
Another cloudy day that saw us cross the Puente De La Maza and then onwards along the vast stretches of beaches to the east. Crews are busy with the whipper snippers preparing the area for tourists. Although far from busy this was the most people we had seen on a walk other than the Cares Gorge walk. Interestingly the ambulance service are the lifesaving crew as well-very little rescue gear to be seen, only a few stand up paddle boarders are in the water & the crews are a long way from the water at this low tide time. A couple of surfing schools have half a dozen students between them & haven’t progressed to the water yet. We completed the beach walk to the end of Meron beach & then headed up through a dairy farm to the village of La Gerruca. Heading back towards San Vicente was an excellent roadside path that obviously caters to a lot of Camino walkers. Back in town the tourist numbers of Saturday are just a distant memory. For an afternoon walk we headed west towards La Acebosa-more beautiful rolling pastures, fair size dairies (including imminent arrival of a calf being born), more views back to the De Los Angeles, Marisma De Pombo & Marisma Marisma De Rubin (backwaters) with a rising tide and back near town we captured a few shots of the Convent De San Luis-gates locked. We went looking for a light seafood dinner before our 4-5hr bus transfer tomorrow- El Puerto on the main drag fitted the bill with 2 dishes of nice local seafood- warm prawns & calamari.

Looking back at San Vicente after crossing Puente de la Maza bridge


Low tide, great sand and no crowds-Meron beach

Cow paddock with a view

Heading towards La Acebosa


The Camino path for last bit into town-

 

[love_the_life]

is the path shared with cyclists or for walkers only?

 

[RB]

is the path shared with cyclists or for walkers only?

Neither of us have 100% recollection but we think it was shared. I remember a couple on bikes flying past us while they were using the road & then we saw them in the distance walking up the next hill and they were using the green track

 

[RB]

San Vicente to San Sebastian
We booked these bus tickets prior to leaving Aust. A 8.15am departure and a 4 hr ride ( the express service). We just escaped the showers on our 5 minute walk to the station. The on time bus was a great ride-good smooth driver who insisted on enforcing the seat allocations. We had a toilet onboard, free secured wifi (password still the same as last year), some tv (including a promo where owners were traing their rabbits to jump hurdles) and generally a comfortable ride on a bus that was full for many sections. An hour of internet browsing and 1.5hrs of music listening and plenty to see outside through the “mafia like” windows meant the trip went quickly. Again, like the south of Spain we saw last year, the road conditions were excellent-many sections of 6 lane dual carriageway in excellent condition-today was the heaviest traffic we had seen in Spain & the many heavy vehicle drivers seemed very compliant in sticking to the slow lanes & using low gear down the steep descents. There were some great coastal strips mixed with rolling farmlands, some huge quarries and some pretty drab looking industrial areas. Arrival was only a couple of minutes late and he seemed intent on catching that up all the way on the freeways that led right into the station. A 500 metre meander got us to our apartment-another large roundabout to contend with, busy locals who were intent in not blending and a huge residential complex of similar multi storey buildings that confused “here maps” and us!

Sorry but photos are out of order

Part of our path to the Old Town San Sebastian



Constitution Square San Sebastian-interesting story behind the numbers above the doors-formerly bullring boxes


Our bus for the transfer-very comfortable

Couldn't resist a last couple of photos of San Vicente-different light before a brief shower