22,803 steps walked, 8,425 feet reached, 666 metres climbed, 16.9 kilometres hiked. The Picos de Europa is one of my favourite places in Spain, I just love mountains!
In the middle of the Picos de Europa: to the right you can see Naranjo de Bulnes (Picu Urriellu) and in the distance, the Atlantic Ocean
The day I went hiking in the Europa Peaks started by waking up at 5.30am or so and driving to Fuente De where we would catch a cable car up to the mountains.
The cable car is 1.8km long and takes you up to the top station, El Cable, at 2,470ft (753m) in 4 minutes, at a speed of 10 metres per second. It costs €17.00 for a return trip or just €11.00 for a one way ticket. The cable car opens at 9am: I remember arriving at 9.30am, luckily we had already pre-booked tickets (which I 100% recommend doing) because in just 30 minutes they had sold over 200 tickets! The view at the top of El Cable is spectacular! There's a special viewpoint that hangs over the cliff, and you can see right below under your feet. We then started what would be a very long hike to the top of the Picos...
At El Mirador del Cable: the top of the cable car (currently 2,470ft (753m) high)
The route we took from El Cable to Pico Tesorero
The beginning of the route goes over easy terrain to start with and gets progressively more difficult and steeper the higher you climb as you would expect. We went in the middle of August and there was even snow - but I guess that's to be expected since the Picos de Europa does extend up to an altitude of 8688ft (2648m) with Torre Cerredo being the tallest of them all. We even had a bit of fun playing on glaciers on the way up, but on the path there were some parts that were only accessible by walking through the snow, something I've never experienced before whilst hiking. Soon we would be walking around a corner and the view just completely opened up to us. To the left you could see the peak we would be climbing (Pico Tesorero), in front of us you could see the Atlantic Ocean and Picu Urriellu (Naranjo de Bulnes) and to the right you could see Peña Vieja (the tallest mountain in Cantabria). The previous year I had hiked up the Europa Peaks but started from the North. When we got here it had suddenly hit me where I was; I was looking down at a place where I once stood looking up the year before, it was incredible to be able to see both of these positions from different perspectives!
(Left) Admiring the view (Centre Left) Pico Tesorero in the distance shows our next path (Centre Right) Overlooking Picu Urriellu and the Atlantic Ocean in the distance, (Right) Me looking out to Picu Uriellu
Our ascent up to Pico Tesorero begins. There were some ice caves that we had to crawl through on our way up and they were slowly melting - this was a great opportunity to fill up our water bottles and taste the freshest natural water I have ever tasted. We took some wrong paths on the way because the track wasn't quite clear but hey, we were just exploring! Some parts of this hike were very scary, hanging on a ledge which was only a foot's width wide, with a huge drop on the other side definitely made my stomach turn and my heart race! But despite all of that we made it to the top.
Pico Tesorero stands at 8,432ft (2,570m). It may not be the tallest mountain in the Europa Peaks (although it is among one of the tallest), but it is by far the highest I’ve ever hiked and/or climbed. This mountain is something quite special actually because at the top of this mountain is where the 3 provinces of Asturias, Cantabria and Castilla y León meet.
(Top) Me at the top of Pico Tesorero (Left) Pico Tesorero 2,570m (Centre Left) Looking out onto the ridge (Centre Right) Looking out to the East from the top (Right) Torre Cerredo: the tallest mountain in the Picos de Europa
After gathering some great footage and photos we made our way back down the mountain, and headed back to El Cable to catch one of the last cable cars down the mountain! It was such a great day, a lovely first date, and an experience I will never forget and will always treasure.
I think I just like being up high: if I'm not up in the air flying then I'm trying to get up there by hiking! Do you guys like hiking through mountains? See you all soon!
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