A high point in more ways than one

At the end of July last year I attempted to do a walk up to the Morra de Lechugales, which is the highest point of the Eastern Massif of the Picos de Europa at 2444 metres. That day I was thwarted by the weather (see the "Hiker in the Mist" entry), so I had been awaiting the chance to try again. I've circled the Morra in red in this photo I took on the way down last year. You can just about make it out behind the clouds.

Weather forecasts were good so I drove up to the point above the village of Sotres where the walk begins, but to my chagrin I was greeted by dense fog. After an hour and a half's journey, I wasn't about to turn back, so I thought I'd at least go up the track to the mountain refuge an hour away and hope things improved in the meantime. I was really lucky! Just as I got to the refuge, where the paths become less defined, the cloud suddenly cleared away and blue skies appeared. With a feeling of euphoria I headed up the mountainside.

This photo looks back at the track that reaches the refuge, enveloped in fog.

I decided to ascend the path I'd come down the previous year. Ahead lay the Rasa de la Inagotable (left) and Castillo de Grajal (centre) mountains


The Junciana (left) and Rasa (right), which I've climbed on previous occasions


Looking across I could see the collado de Valdominguero, and behind it the Central Massif. That was the route I'd taken a year ago up to the Pica del Jierru



There follow several photos of the sea of clouds which lay below -here the Sierra de Peña Labra rises above the clouds

the mountains of Palencia in the distance

I suppose it's very pretty, but I would prefer to have had views of the valleys way below

the Rasa and the Junciana from the other side with Peña Sagra appearing in the distance above the clouds

I skirted across the side of the Pica del Jierru and reached the foot of the so-called Picos del Jierru, which hide the Morra. The gap between the two looks out onto the Central Massif of the Picos

opposite is a mountain called Silla de Caballo ("Saddle" in English) - you can probably see why. It's slightly less high than the Morra.

These are the Picos del Jierru, and I had to walk up towards the left to get to the other side

the reward was this view of the Morra de Lechugales - which looks much more impressive from this side than from the Pico Cortés (see entry from 5/6/10)

The next photos are taken from the summit - first towards the Silla de Caballo

Peña Cortés

Yours truly with the Central Massif behind

the tricky descent from the Morra (luckily someone had left a rope there, otherwise I don't know if I'd have been able to negotiate it

the way back round the Jou del Evangelista, where incredibly, mining took place in the early 20th century

Picos del Jierru and the Pica del Jierru (right), which is as far as I got last year

without the fog it was easy to find my way down the Grajal de Arriba

the year before I'd had to come this way

in the meantime the clouds had started rising, making the final part of the descent a little less clear

it provided me with this photo opportunity though

this is the point where I came down into the cloud - sounds funny, doesn't it?

and it had got thicker by the time I hit the track down to the Jito de Escarandi

one final photo of a hole in the rocks where people leave the delicious local cheese to cure

I was left with a feeling of satisfaction, having finally completed the 100 routes in the guidebook to the mountains of Cantabria I've been using for the last 15 years to help get to know the province. As time went by it became something of a challenge to do all of them...

Sejos

Almost two months after my last walk I decided it was time to get fit for an expedition to Picos, so I revisited Polaciones, a region of Cantabria that's a bit out of the way and I hadn't been to since 2008.

I started out from the village of Uznayo, in the photo, beneath the Sierra de Peña Sagra, shrouded in cloud at this earlyish hour.


the track wound its way past huts, meadows and beech woods with the mountains behind

Peña Labra (on the right) is the easternmost peak of the mountains that limit Polaciones to the south

Peña Sagra, over to the east, was beginning to lose its cloud cover as I made my way up the track

I then took a path up towards the Sierra del Cordel range - a continuation of the Sierra de Peña Labra


I had several sightings of deer as I followed the base of the escarpment to the left


By now the Picos were in sight and free from clouds


the Sierra de Peña Sagra


Iján and the Jorcada peaks came into view as I made my way east


Jelgueras and Concilla peaks, with Sejos below them

I caught up with the does again as I started to descend into the next valley - but they were off before I could take a decent photo


on my way down to the grazing pastures of Sejos I found these horses rather more amenable to having their picture taken

The Picos de Europa again

Cuetu Concilla, with Sejos below


Picos Cordel and Iján


Picos Liguardi and Cordel


this gorge goes down to the Saja valley

Sejos is well-known not only for its grazing land but for the menhirs that lie there. These photos are taken from a previous visit I made to the area - there are inscriptions on some of them. Our ancestors clearly appreciated the beauty of the place long before we were around

There's one stone still standing, called the "Piedra Jincá", at the base of the Concilla, though it's been adapted for modern-day use in a way that doesn't take aesthetics into account

the walk back down to Uznayo afforded me different views of the valley I'd crossed earlier on

gorse at the foot of Cueto Jelgueras

and a final view of Peña Labra and the mountains to the west