Picos De Europa, Spain, June 2024

It is said the Picos de Europa were named by sailors returning from the New World- the first glimpse of the mountain ranges upon rounding the Iberian peninsula came to be called ‘the Peaks of Europe’. After seeing images of these jagged pale limestone peaks in the north of Spain they have become my latest playground for hiking. The massif belongs to the Cantabrian mountains which extend horizontally in northern Spain to almost abut the Pyrenees to the east on the border between France and Spain. 

So I have spent a week doing a loop circuit on mountain trails between several villages in the provinces of Asturias and Cantabria. Locals continue a custom of moving their cows, goats and sheep between lower and higher summer pastures with a rich tradition of cheese making in the area. Cured meats and Iberico style ham are other gastronomic delights after a day of hiking and all washed down with local apple cider that must be poured from a dizzying height into the glass for maximum flavour.

Summer hiking in Europe brings small delights on the trail with the pop of colour from wildflowers and the twitter and birdsong from the trees (and several unmistakable cuckoo calls as well..). I ran into a gang of enormous griffon vultures feasting on a carcass on a high pass one day, saw chamois crossing the track and felt high enough to touch an eagle that swooped over my head on the alpine winds. The herds of cows and sheep wear large mountain bells to give away their location so the musical dingdong carried by the breeze is also part of the hiking soundtrack. 

The high pastures are dotted with traditional stone barns and the villages are a feast of traditional granary buildings and charming stone houses with wooden balconies- this time of year draped in climbing roses, colourful window boxes of flowers and gardens of pink and blue hydrangeas. Arriving on foot each afternoon to the warm  hospitality in these quaint mountain villages has been a delight.