Asturian Views

The interesting topography from the lookout

Dave and the snow-covered peaks

The day following the clouds in the Cares Gorge was a bright sunny day. Eating breakfast we could see all the way across to the mountains we were walking the day before.  The sun was sparkling off the snow-covered peaks.  We scarfed our breakfast, wanting to get out into the sunshine, in case the clouds came back.  This was going to be the day of the views.  In a taxi up to the Fito lookout, we noticed how much faster the locals drove around the narrow mountain roads, compared to our slow inching.

There was a bit of a crowd up at the lookout, which was where the walk started, and no surprise really.  It's not often that you can see snow-covered peaks and the coast in the same vista.  Pretty special.  It was such an interesting topography too, it wasn't as if there was just one big mountain range, and then plains everywhere else.  There were folds and peaks all the way from where we were standing to the Picos de Europa.  It was interesting to see the hill we looked out on from the hotel.  I had thought it was quite a large mountain, but up at the lookout, it barely stood out as a knoll.

Me and the snow-covered peaks in the distance, with slightly foggy glasses

Just can't get enough of this view

The coast in the other direction

Walking away from the lookout, we got a good view of the sea and the coastline stretching away.  It looked pretty inviting, though perhaps still a little cold.  I was surprised how many people were out and about, mountain biking, walking, trail running.  It seems that the Spanish are very much an outdoors people, definitely more so than the Australians, and perhaps even more so than the English, who I think are well known for their rambling.

There were quite a few people who stopped us asking the way, or whether other people had come through.  I think they were always a bit shocked when they found out we weren't Spanish.  It's kind of hard to think of a similarity in Australia, just because there's always so many tourists around.  This was more like if we were walking around Toowoomba or something and you came across Spanish walkers.  It just didn't seem to be an area where non-Spanish went. Maybe the Spanish like it that way, but I think the rest of the world is definitely missing out.

OK, so there's a lot of snow-covered peaks around here

It was a bit of a walk of two parts, the first part was up high, with the wonderful views out to the Picos de Europa and the sea, and then the second half was all downhill back to the hotel, getting steadily more wooded and hotter as you descended.

Dave, a tree, and that view

Up high there were a couple of horses, I'm not sure if they were the native Asturian ponies, apparently these were the horses the early Roman soldiers used to ride.  The native Asturcon pony is quite small, only 11-12 hands and they're usually black or brown.  They were also popular during the Middle Ages because of their ambling gait, known as palfreys at that time.  One of them had a really mong foot, it was, I guess, a club foot, because that's almost exactly what it looked like.  Like it's leg was half a metre too long.

A very typical Asturian landscape

At this point we could have climbed the Pico Pienzu, which was another 750m higher up from where we were.  There was a steady stream of people heading up, but after the big walk the day before, we were happy to admire the view from where we were.  We were also keen for some more delicious cider that afternoon.

What country am I in?

As we started to come down off the mountains we were suddenly in a eucalyptus forest, now that's where we could almost have been back in Canberra.  If only Canberra had 2,600m high peaks covered in snow, and a beach.  I remember when I visited the botanic gardens in Barcelona, and they basically just had the same plants as in the Canberra one.  That's when you realise, actually perhaps the climates aren't that dissimilar.

Once you came off the mountain we then followed a valley stream back to the bottom of the hotel.  It was like another world down there, maybe 10 degrees hotter, no wind, no view and thick undergrowth.

And so our awesome trip to Asturias came to an end, with just a drive back along the highway to the airport to finish with.  We did manage to fit in one more bottle of cider and wine though.  Tempranillo is our new flavour at the moment.  I'll leave you with just another photo of the view, just because I think it's so great.  You can always just close your tab now and not look at it.

The stream running by the hotel

One last shot of the view