Huge rolling mists early this morning over the lake and very chilly.
We drove several hours through the Picos national park, taking photographs of goats, and the Pyrenean dogs who keep the goats and sheep safe from wolves and brown bears , enjoying stunning views in bright sunlight. We had lunch in Potes, in the middle of the Picos where 3 roads converge in the district of Liebana ( means Lebanon in English ) an attractive medieval town nestling in a verdant valley. We decided to stay at a lovely campsite 3 km west of Potes , called La Viorna : we had a swim in the FREEZING cold pool before clouds arrived overhead making it far less inviting to linger. La Viorna is a beautifully maintained camp site with heavy rosewood doors and gold coloured handles in the shower/ washing up block, all very traditional , with baskets of flowers everywhere , immaculately clean , sloping site ( like everything in the Picos) you get a good workout just walking to and from the shower block to your pitch on the upper terraces , but the fabulous mountain views compensate The ruins of a chapel above the camp site (Hermita de Santa Catalina ) were worth the steep ascent , 15 minutes walk uphill from the campsite. It's an important pilgrimage point for those RC pilgrims undertaking the St James Way , and one of the most important stopping off points for them after Rome , Jerusalem and Santiago de Compestala .The chapel has three bells, the one at the very top was upside down and we speculated on why this might be but never found out why. 10 mins walk back down the hill was the Monasterio de Santa Toribio , a Franciscan monastery , with a huge car park for many coaches, it was closed when we got there, so we returned to the camp site and went for a beer and a meal at the cosy campsite restaurant The Veggie option was asparagus, lettuce and omlette, I'm getting a bit fed up of living on bread, cheese eggs, pizza and salad when we eat out Campsite staff are really friendly and speak excellent English.
 |
| Goatherd dogs! |
No comments:
Post a Comment