Sunday
23 September 2012 Potes Spain
Fine
morning and sunrise (which isn’t until about 7.30 am) on
the peaks of Picos de Europa which are west of the town had to be seen to be believed.
However
when we arrived there we discovered it was closed for the day as the winds were
blowing in excess of 80km/hr at the top which we could hear from the bottom
station.
We could imagine how interesting ( thrilling ? scary ? ) the trip
would have been as there is just the bottom and top stations 1400 metres apart
and you travel straight across the
valley and up the sheer slope.
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| cable car bottom station |
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| View right acorss valley to top of cable car |
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| Top cable car station |
Spent an
interesting hour or so there watching a herd of sheep and goats being guarded
by 3 large dogs plus there was also a herd of cows wandering across hillsides
with bells clanking gently. There were also a couple of groups of about 20
walkers in each heading off up, zig
zagging across the face of the mountain.
So
change of plan and went back through Potes and headed north to Tama where we
discovered this superb new visitor centre and museum covering the whole Picos
de Europa National Park region.
Excellent displays about geology of region,
mining used to be the big industry in this area until late 1970’s including the
mining of some relatively rare minerals. As well there was subsistence farming,
sheep, goats, cows, crops of corn, wheat, and some grapes with distilling
of spirits from these etc. These are now
promoted as artisan industries and the major industry here now is tourism
especially mountain climbing, hiking, canyoning and kayaking. You can buy any
major brand of outdoor clothing in Potes.
Continued
on the small village called La Hermida for lunch then back to Potes for siesta.
Later I went for a long walk around the old part of the town to take some
photos.
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| Hairdressers laundry |
Our hotel Casa Cayo was right on the river bank and rose up 3 stories
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| Casa Cayon lower level by river |
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| Casa Cayo upper levels |
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| Casa Cayo from across river |
Also monastery with a fragment of the cross
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| Monastery with Cross fragment |
Much
cooler day today, about 25 degrees as a bit windy. Pleasant temperature.
Dinner
tonight was in the restaurant at Casa Cayo which was very nice, large servings
would have fed about 3 people, place was packed with hiker type people.
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| In bar at Casa Cayo before dinner |
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| Lynds on our balcony above street. |
Quiet in
the town tonight, not as many tourists around today, so good night’s sleep.
Stars very bright in very black sky when I woke about 6.30 am.
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