We picked up our car, a Fiat 500 with slightly more power than a whipper snipper, from Santander airport and with what appeared to be a special religious blessing from the local car rental agent we took to the Spanish roads with one K Henley firmly in control.
With self acting as navigator and emergency driver if Henley broke down, we soon exited Santander driving on to the Autovista for 100 kms or so to the outstanding Picos de Europa national park.
The Picos de Europa (literally means the peaks of Europe) are a stunning range of Mtns (up to 2600 meters) and massifs some 20 kms in from the Nthn Spanish coast. It is a mecca for walkers and bike riders with stunning valleys, gorges and limestone rocks. The area also contains some of the deepest caves in the world.
We entered the park through Panes climbing along progressively narrowing roads first through lovely Potes and then on to Fuente De (the end of the road) up against a granite snow capped massif with surrounding scenery almost Switzerland like.
As the roads tightened so did Henleys relaxed driving to the point that any car, truck or squirrel on our side of the road copped the same verbal abuse .. `Get on your own side you $%&ing useless piece of shite` !
One truck in particular (edging over our side) forced H to come to a complete stalled stop partly in terror partly as he'd forgotten he was still in 4th gear but all in all his handling of the narrow roads was pretty good !
At Fuente De we took a cable car that climbed over 1,000 metres in just over 3 minutes to a plateau on the central massif for fantastic views of mtns and valleys. Even though in the middle of summer some of the walks here are still restricted after severe weather caused large snow falls just 3 weeks back !
With 1,001 photos taken we journeyed back down to drive in reverse (not literally) to Panes for a picnic by a river and then around the to other side of the mountain range to Poncebos and the world famous Cares Gorge Walk.
The walk is a stunning 12 kms along a narrow track (1.5 m - no rail) walking underneath avalanche prone Mtn overhangs and climbing for incredible views of the Cares gorge and river hundreds of feet down. The surrounds are not only stunning but imposing.
Every corner was a WOW moment with incredible vistas and in parts knee trembling sections particularly passing walkers coming the other way.
Amazingly the path was built in the 1940's to help service a canal that in turn helped power a nearby hydroelectric plant. Today the walk is one of the most famous in Spain and listed in the top 100 walks in the world - this is a must do for anyone visiting Spain !
After Henley`s 18 point turn from our narrow parking spot it was an uneventful return to Santander having dinner enroute with the Picos silhouetted in the distance.
We arrived just after 10.00 p.m . with the sun just setting after a fabulous days adventure with only 2 days now till we head to the UK and jump back on our bikes !
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