Thorn Cycles Forum

Community => Cycle Tours => Topic started by: PH on September 28, 2019, 12:47:16 pm

Title: Picos de Europa
Post by: PH on September 28, 2019, 12:47:16 pm

Had a couple of weeks in the Picos de Europa earlier this month, with some friends from the local CTC group.  For those that don't know, this is a hilly area that forms part of the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain.  In a word - Gorgeous.  We stayed in a variety of accommodation from grand hotels to simple rooms, all good. Excellent food and wine at all price points. Not a high millage tour, average around 40 a day, though with the hills that was usually enough and allowed plenty of time to stop and admire the views.  We also had a couple of days with no cycling to do other things including a cable car and gorge walk, so hardly rest days!
I didn't take the Mercury even though it would have been the perfect bike for it,  Instead to take advantage of the ludicrously cheap European coach fares  I took my Airnimal folder, though there's plenty of SJS sourced parts on it.  It was fine, lost less to a full size bike than I expected it to, though if it'd been a flatter faster tour I'd have been at more of a disadvantage.
 Anyway, I could write a thousand words, but hopefully the pictures tell a better story
(https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/48775360476_b7eab7a493_c.jpg) (https://flic.kr/p/2hj7tmY)D4 Morning view (https://flic.kr/p/2hj7tmY) by Paul (https://www.flickr.com/photos/phbike/), on Flickr

Album
https://www.flickr.com/photos/phbike/albums/72157711012228606/with/48775569787/

Title: Re: Picos de Europa
Post by: Swislon on October 02, 2019, 06:10:43 pm

Fabulous photos Paul, it looks like a place I’d love to visit. Many thanks for posting.

Steve

Title: Re: Picos de Europa
Post by: Andre Jute on October 02, 2019, 07:23:06 pm

The photos do indeed tell thousands of words each, especially the peak heights, which give me vertigo! Thank you so much for posting, Paul. Quite made my day.

Title: Re: Picos de Europa
Post by: John Saxby on October 04, 2019, 05:46:52 pm

Stunning, Paul!

Hemingway wrote of "hills like brown elephants" in For Whom The Bell Tolls. It's a nice turn of phrase, but happily, your hills are mostly green, and are much easier on this Canajan's eye :)

Title: Re: Picos de Europa
Post by: PH on October 06, 2019, 09:00:46 pm

Thanks folks, glad you liked them.

Title: Re: Picos de Europa
Post by: Martin on October 12, 2019, 09:33:45 am

A group of us went there a couple of years ago, drove down from Jersey. A beautiful area and hilly, snow in June on one of the peaks. Very green, mainly due to the rain. The food was hearty and very meaty. THis is me with a local, at the top of  Covadonga Lagos, I'm on the right.

Title: Re: Picos de Europa
Post by: martinf on October 13, 2019, 10:29:34 am

Some photos (I didn't take many) from my October 2011 tour, which passed through the Picos.