The Asón Valley

On my way up the Asón valley I stopped off at the village of Socueva, which is just up the hill from Arredondo at the bottom of the valley.

As you walk up through the village you see this wall of rock in front of you. Barely visible, partially hidden by the trees at the foot of the cliff in the centre of the picture is a small cave containing a chapel.

There's a wooden altarpiece at the entrance

and if you go through the doorway into the rock this is what you see:

A slightly different angle. Apparently it dates from the 9th century!

After the visit, a look up the valley towards my next stop. The skies seemed clear but menacing clouds were approaching from the east

On the way down to the main road, a view of Arredondo, which has the sobriquet of "Capital of the world". I kid you not.

Almost at the top of the valley is a famous waterfall, which marks the source of the Asón river. The lack of rainfall recently explains the modest amount of water flowing down the rockface

Setting off from the Collados de Asón we left the track in Horneo to head towards Saco and the Colina

La Colina stands behind an unusual karst platform formed by glacial action

There are lots of fossils to be seen

The ice that formed the platform came from the Hoyón de Saco cirque seen here. The water that filters through this depression travels underground and ends up 12 km away at the waterfall marking the source of the Asón.

After reaching higher ground I was rewarded with the best views of the day; just across the way is the Porracolina - a mountain that is a landmark when seen from Santander

From a vantage point above the Rolacías gorge you can see the Porros de Mortillano the other side of the Asón valley

and below lies the gorge

The Colina, here seen from the same point but which was already engulfed by clouds when I got there, was the highest point of the walk. I had planned to return by a route along the base of the escarpment the other side, but as visibility was nil I had to go back the way I'd come

That included a descent through this beech wood

Viaduct thwarts hike

Hungry for more autumnal views I realised I'd never been to Montabliz. This is an area in central Cantabria that ecologists felt the need to protect a few years back when plans for the new dual-carriageway to the meseta revealed that a viaduct was to be built right over it.

I found some information on the internet about a route through the woods to Montabliz so set off eagerly with Monty.

Unfortunately, after scouting around for some time trying to find the beginning of the path into the woods I had to give up. Here's a photo of the trees that the path once traversed...

As I was near Somaconcha, a hamlet where a famous Roman road starts, I decided to follow it a bit as I hadn't done that walk for several years. The stones were barely visible with all the fallen leaves.

After a pleasant stroll we got to Mediaconcha, which is a semi-deserted hamlet beside the way

I decided to turn back and explore the woods off the beaten track

Eventually we headed back up the Roman road

On exploring the area near the main path we came out of the woods and saw what was between us and Montabliz:

At that point the dual-carriageway goes through a tunnel, but there was no obvious route into the woods from there either

So back up to Somaconcha, where Monty was the centre of attention

There's a hill nearby that affords decent views of the surrounding mountains with the dual-carriageway in the foreground as it leaves the other side of the tunnel: the highest point is El Ropero

Pico Jano

On the way back to Pesquera, where we'd set off from I took this photo of Peña Bustio - the hill the previous photos were taken from

Not all walks end up as you plan. With hindsight I should have realised that the info on the website hadn't mentioned the viaduct because it hadn't been built yet. In the meantime, the path through the Montabliz woods had fallen ito disuse. But I'll be back another day to explore the area starting off from another village...

Autumn in Ucieda

A selection of photos from the woods around Ucieda in central Cantabria.

After the unusually high temperatures and lack of rainfall here over recent weeks it was noticeable how the flora has been affected, with lots more green leaves on the trees than is normal almost a fortnight into November. Oaks would usually have lost most of their leaves by now :

and most beech trees would be looking like this one:

but from what I saw they were in a minority - still very beautiful though:

The path occasionally came into the open making its way between bracken and gorse

The previous weekend it had rained heavily, which meant that the many streams I had to cross were looking very healthy

In the centre of the photo you can see the path I took to come out of the wood

A fallen oak tree

and from the other side

Can you see Monty waiting for me while I took this picture?

This walk is called the "route of the bridges" because of the many streams you have to cross

After an hour and a half or so I decided to leave the path I was following and take in the views from the higher ground

The steep incline took me to the Cotero Pandiuco, just opposite Turdías. I decided to walk along the grazing land, with the Sierra de Peña Sagra (which I went to on my last walk) in the distance

Luckily the sun came out - it felt so good to be here

When I got to a place called Alto de Piedrafiesta, according to my map, I turned back - not before taking another shot of Peña Sagra

The clouds were hugging the hilltops towards the north

On the way down into the woods again these oaks caught my attention

Not far from the path was this strange hut

More photos of trees that took my fancy

Out into the open again and a chance to see where I'd come from

By now afternoon was turning to evening

This is the last photo I took with enough light