The Picos de Europa (“Peaks of Europe”, also the Picos) are a spectacular mountain range extending for about 20 km, forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain and had been on my radar ever since Ben had visited there in 2018.
They are still relatively ‘undiscovered’ by the average tourist, English is not commonly spoken and technology has been slow to penetrate this rugged terrain. Shepherds still move stock up to mountain pastures during the summer and cultivate hay in the valley below to sustain their stock during the winter.
As soon as we saw the view from our living room window I knew that five nights wasn’t going to be enough.
Arriving on a Sunday meant that our options for grocery supplies were extremely limited so after a quick unpack we hurried down to the nearest sizeable village, Las Arenas, for staples. We had a stroll around the village and ended up staying for pizza at a lovely little restaurant where hand gestures and google translate did the job.
The next day Russell wasn’t feeling 100% so we took it pretty easy at ‘home’, giving me the time to look at maps, weather forecasts and timetables in order to best plan our remaining time in the mountains.
Tuesday saw us heading out relatively early to visit the village of Bulnes. Bulnes sits at an elevation of 650 metres (2,130 feet) and has no vehicular access, instead traditionally accessed by one of two steep mountain trails where mules were used to transport supplies and the small number of inhabitants were often forced to abandon the village in winter.
All of that changed in 2001 when the Asturias government opened the Bulnes Funicular, a single-track railway with an 18% slope that operates through a tunnel for its whole length. The railway has an elevation gain of 402 m (1,319 ft) from its base in Poncebos to the terminus in Bulnes and the journey takes about seven minutes.
I think we caught the 11am ‘train’ along with a handful of other passengers and seven minutes later stepped out into daylight to commence the 400m walk into Bulnes village, hoping that the rain held off until we did 😉
The tiny village has seen a huge rise in tourism since the opening of the funicular and whilst still only boasting around 30 permanent residents it is a deservedly popular destination for day trippers and hikers who are exploring even higher trails.
As the stone buildings came into view and we could hear the rushing stream and chirping birds it was easy to see why.
We wandered around the tiny streets where a couple of restaurants were already serving drinks and lunch, ingeniously keeping the former cold in crates submerged in the stream. Fiona and Russell made some new friends, the scenery in every direction was breathtaking and fortunately the cloud began to clear for us as the afternoon progressed.
Fiona and I hiked a little further up the slope to the Mirador (lookout) for the impressive Naranjo de Bulnes (known as Picu Urriellu in Asturian,) mountain peak. Apparently it is rarely visible, usually enveloped in cloud and the couple at the lookout told us they had been waiting 30 mins and it had just shown itself as we walked up 😍
After descending from there (harder than the ascent) we joined Russell at a very picturesque restaurant for a leisurely lunch where we sampled the local Cabrales cheese amongst other things.
After lunch we began to make our way slowly back to the funicular…
….but were waylaid by the sight of magnificent griffon vultures soaring overhead and busy foraging for their young that we spotted on a cliff ledge high above us.
I’m pretty sure I captured a vulture carrying a small animal in the third photo but they typically only scavenge for carrion so it remains a mystery 🤷♀️
Either way, we could have stopped there for hours but reluctantly continued down to meet the funicular, satisfied that our day trip to Bulnes had been a highlight so far.
Ironically, as we disembarked and stepped outside the entrance down in the valley, it was TEEMING with rain…. mountain weather 😉
Tomorrow, the epic Ruta del Cares delivers !