All entries for Wednesday 20 May 2009

May 20, 2009

Funicular de Bulnes, Picos de Europa, Asturias

Follow-up to El Museo Jurásico de Asturias from Transversality - Robert O'Toole

From our house in Poo de Llanes, Asturias, we could look South towards the Picos de Europa range. I had ridden through the mountains with Martin a couple of years ago, and wanted to take Emma and Lawrence to see the mountains, streams, meadows and eagles.

We drove down to the Arenas de Cabrales for coffee and tortilla. Here's a photo from the Garganta de Cares (gorge of the river Cares) to the East of Arenas:

Picos 1

Steep meadows fill the valleys:

Picos 2

The road winds along the river:

Picos 3

A grain store, typical of Asturias. Traditional farming practices are common throughout:

Picos grain store

Boarding the Funicular de Bulnes train, which travels 2km underneath a mountain, up to mountain village:

Funicular de Bulnes

At the other end of the tunnel, we walked along a remote mountain foot path.

Bulnes 1

Fishing in a mountain stream:

Bulnes fisher man

Goats, just like those in Lawrence's herd in Africa:

Bulnes 3

A view across to the peak of Naranjo de Bulnes, still covered in snow at Easter. As we looked out to the mountain, many large raptors drifted by on a thermal: Golden Eagles & Griffon Vultures.

Naranjo de Bulnes