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Published: September 28th 2017
Sotres
A picture of Sotres as we enter from the trail.Monday we arrived in Las Arenas de Cabrales which is the gateway to the Picos de Europe National Park from the north. This is a small village of about 350 population on the Rio Cares. We began our hike as always looking for the beginning. The directions provided were good but the signage did not match the directions. After half an hour at the tourist info center we were off for our adventure. And what an adventure. First we climbed 650 m. That's about 1950 ft or for those that don't know...that's a long way up. The views were spectacular. As the instructions said, "just start up any path. They all go to the same place." Now this might sound like strange instructions to most and it did to us too. But as it turns out we were following goat and cattle trails up the mountain. There were hundreds of them. The problem became evident when you realized only one was marked. We spent quite a bit of time looking for the marked trail. One might suggest that since they all go in the same direction, what difference does it make? We thought the same thing. But a goat can go
Majestic
The views were fabulous. Words or pictures can't decribe the beauty and the vastness. some amazing places, some of which a human can not. There were times that Kathy & I would be standing on the edge, and I mean the edge, of a rock looking at goat a hundred feet down with no clue how it got there. Then we would go back to our last marker and try another path. A trip that was estimated to take 5 hrs took us about 8.
But the views were spectacular as you can see in the pictures. On our way down, we encountered a group of 3 Mountain goats right on the trail. Now I wouldn't normally be to concerned except that if one of these things got nervous and decided to butt you off the trail, you wouldn't stop falling for about 650 m. So there we were, staring at each other from about 20 ft. It was clear this guy had dealt with human's before because he wasn't backing down. So Kathy & I decided to wait them out. We sat on a rock and broke out our snacks. The head goat realized he was in trouble and started bobbing around and chewing the cud. Finally he relinquished the trail and
Elsie
...The cow. These things are massive. And they all have horns. They are everywhere. headed up the mountian. I told Kathy that he was probably at the goat bar telling his friend how he stared down the humans. I would do the same but it wouldn't mean as much since I don't speak the language.
All in all, it was a great hiking day. We had dinner in our room and when to bed early. The next morning we caught a taxi to Tielve to start a 10 km hike to Sotres. Once again we had a hard time starting but finally we were off and running. The views were breath taking. Pictures will not do the views justice. The limestone outcrops gave the scenery a moonscape appearance and the cows...what can I say about the cows? They were hugh. We passed through several small villages and farms and watched one guy herding his cattle. We had to get off the path so they could pass. I gladly give up the trail for cows but not for some mangy old goat.
This path was well marked and we had no trouble making it to Sotres in 5 hrs. After reaching the village we stopped at a local bar and had a couple
Valfriu
This is a small village of about 5 homes. We watched a herdsman move his cows down the road to this barn. of beers before going to our hotel which happened to be 2 doors down. For you see there is only 150 people that live in Sotres. It is small. But for a small down, it has all the tourist etablishments...bars, hotels, and restaurants. We had dinner at the hotel about 4:30 and took a walk around the village. We were back at the hotel by 5:15. We decided to save some of our touring of Sotres for tomorrow and the next day and the next and...the next day. It is a quaint little village with lots of pretty scenery in every direction.
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Terry
non-member comment
Love your blog
Looks like a great time! Y'all be careful. Pictures r fantastic. Sounds like you are getting PLENTY of exercise. Be careful & have a great time.