picos de europa – stinky cheese, cider and bean stew

After three days of trekking we decided to take a rest day. We also needed to find some more supplies so we headed off to Arenas de Cabrales, which was only 6km away. Unfortunately as there was no path to follow it meant tramping along the road (it goes without saying that there wasn’t a bus service either!)

Our clothes and kit were still damp from yesterdays drenching but they soon dried out as we clumped along the road, it wasn’t busy but I was glad to get off it when we got to town.

We made a quick visit to the tourist information kiosk, and then we found ourselves a place for the night; a delightful room in a pensionne on a small square. A flurry of activity followed; kit was hung up, socks and smalls washed (along with the people who’d worn them), and with shopping bag in hand we set out for a tour of the town.

This area of Asturias in famed for it’s stinky blue cheese called Cabrales, cider and a bean stew called Fabada. The dish is made with white kidney beans, chorizo, morchilla and saffron. We bought some Cabrales cheese, restocked our supplies and tried some cider whilst avoiding a downpour.

The funny thing about Arenas is that it’s billed as the gateway to the Picos and it reminded us vaguely of Betwys y Coed, especially with the weather being a bit damp. There were even (not very good) gear shops to faff around it.

At that fashionable hour that Spaniards go out for dinner we headed out for what was the best food of the trip; a humongous bowl of Fabada, washed down with a bottle of agreeably robust local red wine.

picos de europa – posada de valdeon to poncebos

The day didn’t go entirely to plan (there seems to be a theme developing here!) The guide book mentioned that there was a bus service running through to Cain at the start of the Cares Gorge. Having wandered around the village the evening before we were unable to find the bus stop and as the park information service office was shut we had no option but to pop back first thing in the morning.

The very helpful Park Warden rang the bus company for us and was told that the bus needed booking twenty four hours in advance. Not very useful. Kindly she asked whether it was at all possible for them to run the bus but the driver had taken his family (presumably in the bus) for a day trip to Bilbao.

We briefly thought about catching a cab but I swiftly dismissed the idea by exclaiming that we were on a walking holiday after all! It happened that after checking the map, and having another chat with warden, there was a path called the Camino de Bustio that ran along the west bank of the Rio Cares all the way to Cain.

The path was well signed, good underfoot and mostly in shade which was good because the day had dawned bright and sunny. The verges were busy with butterflies and an abundance of wild flowers. Grasshoppers jumped on to the path and back out again and common lizards scurried away as we crunched down the path.

After a few kilometres we arrived at the Mirador del Tombo across the river from Cordinanes; we craned our necks up across the valley and traced the faint line of our descent route from yesterday afternoon. From here it looked incredibly steep and made the North Ridge of Tryfan look remarkably easy angled. From the Mirador the path wanders along between the road and the river until finally you have no choice but to use the road. Just off the road is the Chorco de los Lobos near to a couple of settlements that was used by the valleys farmers to catch wolves, presumably to eradicate them. Whilst on the road to Cain we were passed by a bus (no doubt following it's ill informed Sat Nav).

At Cain we stopped for a cafe con leche and the now obligatory piece of tortilla before heading off down the gorge. The first kilometre or so of the path is carved out of the rock, and it also happened to be the busiest. Partly due to to those walking it’s full length are getting into their stride, the narrowness of the walkway along this point but mostly due to the day trippers that walk in huge groups 500m up the gorge from their coaches, take a few snaps and then walk back, again in huge groups.

The gorge is seven miles long and as you head north it opens up, drops in altitude until it starts climbing up to it’s highest point before dropping steeply down into Poncebos. The path was easy going with places to stop to admire the views and as we progressed we were accompanied by the occasional rumble of thunder and shower. None of this was a hassle as there were places to stop and stand out of the short downpours.

We put waterproofs on once but overheated in no time, so we just waited the showers out. It hadn’t taken me long to realise that the ideal piece of kit for this weather was an umbrella. On the last haul up to Los Collaus the skies opened and we were soaked in minutes.

What timing! There we were crossing the highest, pointiest bit of the gorge at what was probably it’s widest point, naturally I was very worried about a lightning strike, we wasted no time scurrying down to Poncebos.

Despite the drenching it had been an enjoyable day with about thirteen or so miles covered with over 500m or so of ascent/descent thrown in. So we celebrated with some cheap local wine and an ensalade ‘Poncebos’ (something of a road accident) and a plate of Patatas Bravas (chips with chili sauce).

picos de europa - potes, fuente de to posada de valdeon

The only time on the trip we set the alarm so we wouldn't miss the bus. Having scouted the bus stop and time the evening before we strolled confidentially through Potes picking up breakfast - a piece of tortilla and a cafe con leche - on route to the supermercado handily sited opposite the terminus. Despite all the advance planning we missed the bus. Penny was convinced that it went through earlier without stopping however I wasn't so sure, what she thought was the bus was going in the wrong direction.

With only two buses a day we weren't keen to hang around until late afternoon, so we strolled back down the main drag to the taxi rank and employed the services of Jose Angel and his glass roofed Merc, which he took great pleasure in rolling back so that we could see the mountains. Despite speaking no English we picked up that that he didn't like the mountains because he suffered from vertigo. And when I saw the cable car in Fuente De I had to agree with him!

Outside the cafe we sorted our gear and filled the platys from the near by spring. A rough plan had been formulated the evening before and we were going to climb up to Tomos de Liordes crossing Vega de Liordes and find a bivi spot the other side of Sedo de la Padiema most likely near Llagu Bajero for water as there appeared to be a few flatish spots close to the lake.

We wasted no time getting stuck into the ascent a steep zig zag up to a pass in the mountains, the Trail Blaze poles eased the climb. At the pass the path levelled out and we entered a wide alpine meadow ringed with sharp pointy limestone peaks. There were still traces of snow at the top of the pass and on the higher peaks. Mid way along the meadow we stopped to eat a late lunch and to top up our water supply from a spring - the sun had been beating down relentlessly and I'd already drunk the two litres that I left the town with. From the meadow we followed a faint track westwards weaving in and around boulders, patches of snow, and on one occasion a small herd of cows protected by a very large, loud dog.

Early evening we stopped, there was no sign of the lake that we were going to bivi next two, so I whipped out the Geko and switched it on and got a map reference. Ah! I said, If I'm not mistaken the lake is over that ridge! Climbing up we passed a flat tussocky spot that was to become our bivi site for the night. Edging over the ridge the lake came into view, I dumped my rucksack got out the platys and descended to the lake side. There wasn't any where flat to be had that side of the ridge and that was fine with me. The meadow was studded with boulders that looked like they'd fallen from the massive head wall on the north side of the lake so there was some risk hunkering down there.


With our mats out we ate supper watched by curious but nervous Iberian chamois, as the sun set the limestone peaks around caught the last rays turning a pinkish tinge. The air temperature dropped as the sun lost it's fight with the horizon and we settled into our bivibag clad sleeping bags, and we soon drifted off to sleep as the stars began to appear in the sky.



We woke to glorious sunshine and after a brew and breakfast we descended a scree covered gully zig zagging our way down carefully to Vega de Asotin, a high alpine meadow filled valley at 4,000ft.


Crossing the valley we began a torturous descent involving a good number of grade one scramble moves - a highly entertaining finish to our mountain crossing and giving a surprising added value to our chosen route. Although Penny had a lot of climbing experience under her climbing harness she hadn't had much of scrambling with a rucksack on. There were a few expletives and complaints of having short legs but otherwise she descended in decent style. And more importantly without mishap.


For me I enjoyed the switch in focus from putting one foot in front of the other to using my limbs in co-ordination. At Cordinanes we headed down the road next to the Rio Cares to Posada de Valdeon where we spent the night.

folding esbit stove – quick test

I shuffled various pots and pans around on top of the stove with varying degrees of success. With all stepped pot supports there’s a danger that some of your favourite pot or pans will just not sit happily on the stove. This was certainly the case with the Snow Peak 900 but the smaller Snow Peak 600 was fine. Wide based pans like the AGG three cup pan obviously have no such problem.

For the test I chopped a esbit tablet in half as the tray is slightly smaller than this and put 500ml in the Snow Peak 600. I didn’t bother to time the exercise nor weigh the chunk of esbit. The test was carried out indoors in a well ventilated room with a windshield in place.

The fuel got the water to a good boil with some to spare. There was spillage of the flame up the side of the pot. This was due to the pot’s diameter and, perhaps, the size of the chunk of esbit used. Cutting the tablets in quarters and stacking two on top of each other should help concentrate the flame under smaller diameter pots.

The next step is a quick test to ascertain the fuel efficiency, speed of boil and to see whether it integrates with my Bush Buddy.

Doing this quick test reminded me why I used my old army solid fuel cooker; it’s simple and effective. But as with all stoves it’s not without it’s downsides with the fumes and blackening of the pots.