The 7th August was a driving day. We left Burgos after breakfast and headed west along the Autopista to Leon. The golden wheaten plains stretched as far as the eye could see but, thankfully, it was a little cooler than the previous day.
Leon. Yes, well. The city difficult to drive into and even harder to leave once you are there. We re-christened it 'Royston Vasey'. What's Spanish for you'll never leave? The cathedral and the central square was pleasant enough but the rest....for you northerners, imagine Widnes with sunshine - and pilgrims. Yes, we were still on the Camino de Santiago.
We eventually managed to escape, but not to Swansea! We headed to the Someido Natural Park to our campsite 8km up a twisting mountain road, with blind corners and drops precipitous enough to give the RAV vertigo, never mind us. The campsite location was in a tiny hamlet at the end of the valley road, called Valle de Lago. We were a 1300m above sea level and surrounded by mountains. Fantastic.
We stayed here for 5 nights, exploring the valley. The Someido Park is a natural park, reminisent of the Lake district in parts (but higher!); however because it is a Natural Park it is a conservation area so you have to stick to the permitted trails. It is also one of the only parts of the Asturias where the brown bear still lives, so some areas are completely out of bounds so as not to destroy their habitat. The classic walk is up to the lake at the head of the valley, then over a pass to visit a clutch of lakes in the next (see picture). Amazing walk and views but, we did it again, we picked up ANOTHER dog. An el perro with conjunctivitis once again was attracted to Paul's aftershave and accompanied us for several miles before leaving us (the tart!). It looks as though he makes a habit of picking up people though (the dog I mean). A few miles later we were amused to see him accompanying a couple of other walkers. They had a vaguely desperate 'how do we get rid of this' look about them; which I'm sure was on our faces earlier!!
The walking is fairly undemanding but you could quite happily fill a week exploring. Other highlights (and lowlights-you work out which!):
An enjoyable ascent to a high pasture to see a collection of traditional 'brunas'; dwellings. Someido was an area of tranhumescence-migration-people would migrate north from Extremadura with their cattle for the summer months to graze them on the pastures.
The local sidra(cider) - dry and sharp but very refreshing after a days walk.
Portuguese children and their parents, at least the ones in the tent next to us. Ineffectual parents and out-of control offspring who never went to bed. They could do with Bradley and Damions naughty step.
Finally, it rained once again on our last night! Another wet tent to pack up.
No comments:
Post a Comment