picos de europa kit

A brief overview of kit performance or not. We had a surprisingly high amount of kit malfunction on this trip.

The first to go was my Karrimor Kiwi sandals Bought for £25 from Blacks about three years ago. I’ve tramped a number of miles in these and the soles were looking worn. Due to be replaced, I’d hoped that they’d last the summer but unfortunately one of them came apart on day three; the flip flops flopped. Luckily I’ve managed to buy a pair of Teva Terra Fi2’s at 30% off in a mid season sale.

Then there was that seeping feeling. One of the Platys we were using sprang a small leak in that spot at the neck, where no matter what you use or how you try to fix it you know it’ll start sprinkling before you’ve uttered the word incontinence. Fortunately we had packed a 1l platy which took it’s place. I’ve now bought a Source 1.5l bladder to try out.

Camera battery – not really a fault of the camera. I had the opportunity to charge it several times on the trip but I had neglected to take a very important piece of kit in order to do so. Lesson learnt; I will be buying a spare lithium ion battery for future trips.

Cokin camera filter holder - This was a suggestion from George over at Londonbackpacker. You can buy a filter holder that fits compact digital cameras that have a socket for mounting on a tripod. Jessops were having a sale of filters and I was able to pick up a polariser, and a ND2 and 4 graduated filters at half price. In use the filters tame bright skies so that they don't turn out overexposed; a common problem with landscape shots. Although the TZ4 allows bracketing of exposure it needs to be used with a tripod to keep a consistent shot, and I don't own one of these (yet). In use it's a bit fiddly and you cant leave it in place but the results outweigh these minor disadvantages. And as the landscape isn't going to run away you've time to set the holder up.

filter holder with polariser in place

Inov8 Roclite 315 trainers – I cant praise these shoes enough! With a pair of Superfeet insoles (blue ones) replacing the ones supplied, my feet like they were in one of those comfy bucket seats that I once fitted in my Mini. The toe rand meant that I didn’t suffer a stubbed toe and the overly aggressive tread meant that I didn’t once find myself sitting on scree or a wet polished limestone boulder. As an added bonus they also colour co-ordinated nicely with my Exos.

Sea to Summit silnylon shopping bag – a versatile piece of kit that’s compact and only weighs 30g. We used it for shopping, carrying filled platy’s from the tap/spring, as laundry basket and as shoulder bag in the evening.

Sea to Summit bag in stuff sack

Nuun hydration tablets, kona cola flavour - I got these as a freebie when ordering some kit online. I cant state whether they helped or not and not my choice of flavour but as they do a lemon and lime one, I'd think about packing some as a citrus flavour makes a refreshing change to plain water.

The last piece of kit to malfunction was self inflicted. Whilst refilling the Gnome stove the fuel self ignited, not a problem as I’ve had similar with a Trangia before now. On this occasion the fuel bottle (an AGG 300ml one) caught light and started to burn melting the other bottle in the process. Luckily I was able to douse the flames and stop the second bottle from complete melt down.

joy

Somethings make me so happy... here's one of those moments.

picos de europa – sotres to espinama

After yesterdays efforts we didn’t hurry our departure from Sotres. I felt fit and unfazed by yesterdays trek, no doubt due to the huge amount of carbohydrate I tucked away the previous evening.The route was straightforward; we were going to take the track through the Valle de Duje, a gorge that runs south to Espinama where there was a possibility of catching a bus to back to Potes or beyond.

The track as far as Vegas del Toro is pretty much usable as a road and part way down was a small parking spot for climbers. The crags weren’t roadside ones, there was a considerable hike up the valley side to the base of the ones mentioned on the information board; like those approaches to crags along the Llanberis Pass but on a much larger scale. Dotted along the valley were meadows where teams of two or more farm workers were using scythes to cut the grass.

We were passed by a number of four by fours heading up to Hotel-Ref Odriozola; this refugio had a bar and bizarrely the passengers, scrubbed up and in their Sunday best, were driving up to take lunch there.

About halfway down the valley there’s a fork in the track below the peak of Prao Cortes. The right hand lead to the hotel the other more directly to our destination. We found a flat spot and had lunch and spotted a couple of vultures feeding on a carcass high on the side of the valley. There were also a number of black birds scavenging on the meadow, I thought they were jackdaws but a closer look revealed that they had red beaks, checking a wildlife book on my return I discovered they were red beaked choughs and close relatives to jackdaws.

We carried on the left hand path, deciding against the detour to the hotel, crossing a wide alpine meadow with grazing sheep, cows and horses. Rock finches flitted amongst the thistles as we approached.

Passing Santluca de Alvia, a seemingly remote church at 1466m, the track starts to improve no doubt to allow access to the church by car. From this point the track begins to decent slowly at first to the Portillas del Boqeron, and then more steeply zig-zagging down though woodland to Espinama.

On this last part of the track we met three guys and a handful of kids. Each of them had natty pairs of walking boots, the obligatory walking cane and a little rucksack on each of their backs. It was very refreshing see kids out on a trek, and more impressive were the adults, apart from huge backpacks they were shouldering they also had sacks full of rubbish lashed to their packs. I’ve never seen that level of responsibility to the environment in the UK sadly. One had a tiny frying pan dangling from his pack, I pointed at it and smiled, and he indicated that it was a necessary bit of kit when camping with kids. I nodded an acknowledgement and headed off. Arriving Espinama we grabbed a well deserved cold beer, and found out that we had about an half an hour wait for the bus.

Our trip around the Picos had come to an end and I was reluctant to leave, especially as Espinama has a micro climate similar to the Mediterranean. Sadly on this occasion the bus actually turned up and whisked us away.

fabada

I fell in love with this dish whilst away in the Picos, and on my return I wanted to have a stab at creating my own. Here's my take on the dish, now if only I could make it trail friendly!

Ingredients

Olive oil
Small onion, roughly chopped
Six cloves of garlic, crushed
one carrot, quartered
one stick of celery quartered
four rashers of streaky bacon, quartered
150g diced chorizo
Six quality sausages
250g dried white kidney beans
One bay leaf
One tsp of smoked paprika
Black pepper
Half a tsp of turmeric (use saffron if you have it)
One litre of stock (low salt chicken or vegetable)

Notes

The diced chorizo is the hard cooking stuff, sliced wouldn't work with this dish. Low salt stock is essential as the chorizo will make the dish salty enough. I used Sainsbury's Taste the Difference Toulouse sausages for this dish, any quality sausages of this type will suffice. You will need patience preparation and cooking time is circa 30 hours (not all of it over a hot stove, though!) A heavy cast iron or heavy bottomed pan with lid is an ideal vessel for the cooking of this dish. This makes more than enough for two, to serve four use 500g beans and before serving quarter the sausages.

What to do

Soak the kidney beans in enough water to cover overnight, they will swell considerably so make sure they stay covered. Rinse and change the water once or twice.

Heat the olive oil in the pan on a medium heat and add the onion and garlic, stirring until softened and slightly coloured. Add the chorizo and continue stirring until the fat and colour starts to run. Add all the other ingredients, give it a stir to mix them together and bring to the boil. Turn down to the lowest heat and cover with lid.

Check the stew every half hour or so and give it a stir. The beans should remain covered whilst cooking, so you might need to top up the level a bit. After about an hour and a half the beans should be softening nicely. If preparing this dish in advance (a good idea to do this anyway) you can turn off the stew at this point.

There will be about 30 minutes more cooking time left. Pulses are notoriously difficult to estimate cooking times for; the age of the beans, how long they get soaked for affect cooking time. You may need up to two and a half hours to cook this. Only way of knowing is to check the beans. they should be smooth skinned, plump and have a bit of bite to them. If the texture is floury then they aren't cooked yet!

On the run up to serving simmer with the lid off to reduce the liquid, you want a nice thick consistency. Ladle into large bowls and eat with some rustic type bread.