| Journal: TWUK | Section: |
| Title: | Issue Date: 10/07/00 |
| Author: | Page Number: 35 |
| Copyright: Other |
Northern Spain
To summit up, its mountainous here
Jane Archer pulls on her boots to explore the Picos de Europas range
WE peered round the door of the restaurant in the pretty village of San Vicente de La Barquera.No need to grapple with the Spanish on the menu here – it was obvious what was on offer as it was swimming around in the fish tanks unaware of its impending fate.
Crabs, lobsters and every other seafood you can imagine form an everyday part of the diet in Cantabria and Asturias – and that of a good many British tourists, I suspect.
The benefit of restaurants such as these is that meal times are easy – you can just point at what you want.
If not, it does help to know some Spanish to help you read what is on offer as very little English is spoken.
It’s not gourmet cooking but it is definitely good value – we even found a three-course “meal of the day” for less than £4 a head including a bottle of wine.
Cantabria is the regionsurrounding Santander, while Asturias is next door – about 45mins’ drive west from the city, although you can only tell you’ve entered it because the sign tells you.
We were staying at the three-star Hotel Mirador de la Franca, about 90mins’ drive from Santander.
We chose the hotel for my six-year-old daughter because it is on the edge of La Franca beach, billed as one of the biggest and best in the region, and for mum and dad, who wanted to be close enough to the Picos de Europas to be able to combine the beach with exploration of some of this long mountain range that separates the tip of northern Spain from the rest of the country.
Unfortunately, day one opened with low cloud so we headed for nearby Llanes, a fishing port 20mins’ drive away, and spent most of the day explaining to my daughter that there was no point going into the mountains in such weather.
How wrong could we be? That evening, a British couple staying at the hotel for the umpteenth time explained that to escape such weather, which is not unusual, you have to go into the mountains.
It was quite a leap of faith but, sure enough, as we drove up the spectacular Hermida Gorge the next day, the sky cleared.
We were heading for Fuente De, a 90mins’ drive from the hotel, where a cable car takes you to the top of one range for less than £5 return and where the sun was shining. From the top, there are superb walks across the Picos but you do need a good map and a good sense of direction before setting out.
Europicos, an activity operator in nearby Potes, offers a full day combining 4×4 jeeps and trekking for about £23 as well as canoeing, paragliding and white-water rafting. Potes, a good base for exploring the Picos, is one of many pretty towns in this region unspoilt by tourism but filled with locally made crafts at bargain prices.
But top prize goes to Santillana del Mar.
It was dubbed the prettiest village in Spain by philosopher Jean Paul Sartre and, despite the crowds and numerous gift shops, it is well worth a visit.
Its position as a tourist spot was underlined by the fact this was the only place we visited where we had to pay for parking but at less than £1 for a day, I couldn’t complain.
Picos de Europas: if the weather is a bit cloudy, climb up the mountains to find clear blue skies