11-11-12 Sunday, the 11th day of the 11th month of 2012…… Travel around the tourist spots in Picos de Europa, A solo journey filled with introspection……

The tunnel to the gift shop![gallery]

 

I wake to intermittent rain and wonder if I will get in my hike today.  Last night, the english speaking hosts son-in-law recommended one nearby and it sounds wonderful through chestnut and beech forests.  He also recommend the caves of El Soplao, with unique and rare stalactites growing in an unusual fashion from the wind drafts on the cave.  Another recommendation is the tramway  to see the Picos de Europa the best way and I decide on the cave, the tram and the hike if it fits in, which I seriously doubt.   I am on small mountain roads which I love and do take shortcuts when I see them.  After Michael Jackson sings to me, Chris Issac falls in love and

11-10-12 Traverse to Tresviso…… A solo day hike to a small mountain village In Picos de Europa Spain

Switchbacks on Tresviso hike

After a good breakfast with fresh local mushrooms and eggs I am off on a hike.  Winding my way through town, I see a gang of men hanging out, I see one wearing wooden clog shoes.   Waving, I scarcely get a nod, perhaps it’s a ‘outsider’ thing.  Mostly farmers in this small town, many retired, it is Sunday; a time to gather and socialize, I guess this is the spot!!    On the radio, REM is singing, “Losing my religion”, fitting for my trek through so many religions!!  I notice with surprise that the knee that has been mildly bothering me no longer does, within a week of my trip, no discomfort at all.   Hummmmm…..

I wasn’t sure if I’d actually go hiking in the rain that followed me.  I had chosen a route up the side of a mountain 880 meters, which isn’t very intimidating if you don’t do the math!  I had read about it in my hosts info book and it looked beautiful next to the Urdon river for a spell.  Close to my parking spot, the rain stopped and enticed me to hike.  I got out my trekking pole, I only had one now as one had a piece missing that tightened the pole when you lengthened it.  It was there when I packed it!  Hummmm, was the TSA of Spain checking for something smuggled and left out the piece that tightened it?  Damn, now I have only one.   Throwing it in the car, wouldn’t ya know it, with a fifty percent chance of getting the wrong pole, I did!!   No pole today; most hikers I saw had them, me none, dang it.  I’m gonna have to watch my step….. Packed all the way across the ocean for this hike too!
On the trail my first sight of the Urdon river has me catching my breath, it is absolutely gorgeous, unexpectedly clear, with just a light green hue to it.   Reminiscent of the Smith River in Northern California I once lived next to.    The hike reminded me of many fall hikes and for a minute I thought I could be anywhere, until the Spaniard walked past with his goats!  Yup, a gang of them; maybe thirty in all.  They were afraid to walk past me and when they could they would get off the trail up the mountainside or run quickly past me.   The Spaniard yelled at them….  They were spread out for quite a ways with their little bells I could hear up the mountain later.  Then the trail traversed up a hill.   Check that, the MOUNTAIN!  It switched back and forth up the side of a canyon where I tried to see where it would go, which canyon side hill it would mellowed out in.   It didn’t.  It pretty much went straight up switching back and forth.   Koda would’ve loved this hike!!  I had little clue what I was really getting into.   I would do conversions all the time too.  I didn’t really look or think about this hike that traversed for most of its 2885 feet elevation gain!   I decided that was a good thing, as I may have wussed out!   Certainly glad the uphill climb was first!  I read it was a four-hour hike and I think I made it more.  Pleased with my climbing until three folks passed me, yet at least I was going, slow but sure.  I would look up to see when the sky got closer and it didn’t for a while.  I remember doing that working on forest fires; when I saw the blue sky through the trees without looking straight up, I’d know the top was close and maybe the hiking to the fire easier.  I still saw mountain straight up.    The sky did not seem close for hours!!  I had no idea I was going all the way to the top, yet go I did!  When I finally got up the mountain, hours later, the trail leveled out a bit and went past two old rock buildings with a spring next to them.  A bit more climbing and switchbacks and finally town was in front of me.   I went through skinny streets, past many homes, then saw a restaurant overlooking the canyon.  Outside was a threesome that had hiked up with their lunch spread on the table; when they saw me, they asked if I was ‘solo’?  I said yes and followed it with I don’t understand much Spanish.  I’m not sure if their reaction to my ‘solo’ was with admiration or craziness.   I guess either would’ve been good!  With all the trekkers in the restaurant, trekking poles leaning next to each table; it was loud and the wall to wall windows fogged up.  I sat down for my first meal in a restaurant since Gabby went home.  I had to try something with cheese I heard they were famous for, so I had an appetizer and soup.   All good, fair prices, I finished, bought postcards of the hill, no; mountain climb and stepped back out, into rain!   I couldn’t see the rain from the restaurant with the windows so fogged up.  I put on everything I had and wished I had more, it had gotten cold and I had a mountain to go down, I told myself it wasn’t so bad as my pants began to get wet within minutes.  I was glad I had fleece on and non cotton pants, all this will help keep me warm.  Looking up I saw no break in the clouds and willed and prayed for clearing and blue skies.   I wasn’t convinced I could change the weather but still threw every intention, attraction, belief, thought process and will into better weather; blue skies to be exact. The rain was steady yet not torrential.  After deciding I wasn’t so cold and I was perfectly fine if it still rained, with the back of my pants getting soaked and rain soaking my ball cap; the blue skies came!!!!!  I did it!   That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!  Half the sky is a wonderful full blue sky!  Slow and steady downhill, I felt very alone, it was super quiet, save the occasional goat bell down below; so I decided to sing.  The words to Amazing Grace came to me, The Rose by Bette Midler and the only song I ever wrote.  Then I heard people, two couples eventually passed me and my singing was over!  The downhill was every bit as long as the up, as now I had to watch my step, mostly over small limestone rock, footing was fine and my legs felt strong.  I wondered if I was going to have to pay in pain tomorrow.

On the way down I notice the sides of the trail are filled with natural heather I have never see native before.  It was 5:30 when I got off the mountain; climbers could be seen near the parking lot on the rock above me.  I decided that was it for the day, the caves would be closed and the tramway too, so I’ve got a plan for tomorrow.  Coming home I was cold, started a fire to warm me but used it mostly to dry the clothes I’d washed earlier.   The shower was great as I basked in hotter and hotter water!!  Ah, Picos de Europa, thanks for a great day…..

Sadness in Picos de Europa A solo travel through Europes Mountain Peaks and a warm so long to Koda….. A continuing travel journal …..November 09th, 2012

 

He was just a pup when we rescued him.   We got him two years to the day that my first canine buddy left……I had Kada, my Australian Shepard for fourteen and a half years.  Kada was my bud through so many changes in my life, my ever-present longest male partner.   Never being able to replace him, I gave my next pup; a eight week old fluffy fur ball Borzoi mixed with maybe Alaskan husky a name similar; Koda.   My then husband wanted a dog, he wanted to rescue one and fell in love with Scrappy, a nine month old, ninety pound puppy, still wild with puppyhood. He had been living with a young family that could not handle him, given up and for my ex, it was love at first sight, he knew he wanted Scrappy.   I then saw Koda with his brother; rescued from a roadside recently.  Koda and Scrappy, eventually two large dogs, furry white and short-haired black.   They became brothers.  When my ex left me, I decided to go homeless for many reasons; I could not take my pup with me.  Koda loved his brother and I could not pull myself to separate them.  Scrappy grew to one hundred and forty pounds and Koda at seventy-five pounds, kept him in shape with his tall lanky legs.  They were good for each other, belonged together.  My ex’s girlfriend soon became his surrogate mother.  She was well suited for the job and filled my shoes perfectly.  When I’d visit my step kids, the pups would come out in total happiness and recognition.   Now he’s gone.   I got the text last night that he was going to be put down due to bone cancer.  How?  Why?  He was only eight years old.  When?  All of it mattered not, for the news was all-encompassing.  It was really all I needed.  He’s gone.
I wake thinking I cam just do that little hike to the waterfall in Gorbea National Park, driving the way my host tells me too, I am suddenly on a dirt road.  I follow it out as instructed and see no instructions to a waterfall trail.   Backing out and headed to another area nearby I eventually find the gated yet closed area.  Ah, the trials of traveling after season, less crowds yes, yet many closed places too.  There ar plenty of cars parked that do know where that trail leads though.   So I go on my way, head to my next destination, then I see more signs to Gorbea National Park, I stop at every one looking for the sign to the trailhead for the waterfalls, to no avail.  I have to give it up…..I’ll hike in the next place!  Traveling to Picos de Europa National Park, my road is green hilled country side, small towns as I avoid the tolls and then through the large city into the mountains.  Koda would’ve loved it.  My travels take me next to the ocean as it rains off and on.  I am surprised to see lots of eucalyptus trees, they appear to be farming them as new plantings next to old ones abound.  I am also dismayed to see much gorse and pompous grass.

I am headed to the largest protected area in Spain.  It’s an excellent example of glacial and fluvial-torrential modeling, incredible rugged crenellations, incredible gorges, narrow valleys, steep slopes and chasms over a thousand meters deep.  I had chosen a rural house in the middle of the Mountians.  The road was interesting and filled with short rock barriers to the steep scary hillsides below, often one lane ‘track’, I often chose the center of the road.  Limestone masses, green countryside and quaint brick and rock homes in small villages.  Yes!  This is my kinda area!  Koda would’ve loved it.  I stop by the market for fresh fish and veggies as the place I am going to have a kitchen and I will cook my meals, I have a feeling a store will not be convenient and I am right.   The address doesn’t show on the GPS, it shows simply; Cicera, the town.   I decide it will be so small I’ll be able to find it or ask.  Koda was a loner sort of dog, maybe being abandoned while young lends even dogs to the realization they are alone in the world.   I know with humans, we all go through a time when we realize we are alone.  He wouldn’t sit as close to me as Kada, didn’t go for sleeping next to me.  He was a loner, just like me.  He’d happily wander outside alone exploring and run his heart out with Scrappy.   Scrappy was bigger, destined to be top dog but Koda was faster and would eventually piss off Scrappy when he started to beat him in races.   Scrappy would get mad at first and not allow it!  Then it was inevitable, Koda was built for it.   When Scrappy did catch him though he’d beat him up, brawn won the ‘top dog’ competition.  After navigating the narrow roads that hug the mountainsides with chasms below I wind down into the small village between rock buildings and decide to ask the first person I see for the address.  The village is laid out as an afterthought, narrow rock walled roads between homes that were probably scattered centuries ago.   No more than two dozen homes all tightly clustered neighbors.  Brick, rock and clay, the village is picturesque and classy in a functional way, neat and tidy.  A local shows me my place, actually easy to find if I just followed the sign in front of me, yet backing out of rocked walled, narrow roads is not an appealing thought.  A large truck would not have fit.  Green hillsides hold grazing sheep, cows and plowed fields.  Koda would’ve loved it.
My host, Asun is mostly Spanish speaking with as little English as I know Spanish yet we actually communicate fairly well.  The place is a large three story brick and rock structure with rustic open beams and wooden shutters.  A creek runs behind it.   Arnus is my age and we determine we are both solo travelers to each others homeland.  She had visited California solo, including Yosemite National Park.  We have a lot in common, our love of rural spots and discomfort in large cities being one.  The setting is downright gorgeous and I feel at home.  Koda would’ve loved it.
Nearby Mirador de Santa Catalina with a sweeping 280 degree vista of the limestone mountains is the first place I go to.   Driving up through chestnuts forests there is a miniature skywalk, jutting out over the chasm, scary; bending with weight!   Many pictures later, I am driving down the tree-lined forest of yellowing fall and I see chestnuts all over the road!  I stop to see if they are viable.   They are!  Yet, it takes a little finesse to relieve it from its stickered protection.  I’m going to roast some tonight!  Koda would’ve loved it, me; not so much, peeling them for him!
Returning home, Asun, helps me with wood for the fireplace and soap for the clothes washer.  When she sees my chestnut haul she laughs as she has her own stash.  Her counter is full as she offers me even more and fills my tee-shirt ‘bowl’ with them!   Guess I’m roasting some for the road!!!  Near her wood pile, is her garden grown potato pile, she gives me some of these too for my meals.   The local church bell signifies the hour with its rings; one ring every half hour.  Dinner is fresh fish, rice, local mushrooms, potatoes, cabbage and a beer.  I’m not sure if Koda would’ve loved it.
My inviting bed is upstairs with a view of the mountains and I am scarcely under the covers armed with my book when I find myself fast asleep.   See you later Koda-bota