La Huerta De Elvira Ribadesella

... for GPS--made for exciting times. ["Paul, I think we're driving in a dried river bed....the road ended back there!"]

We made our way into the Picos de Europa, a beautiful national park with amazing mountains. The hotel we're in is nestled in a small valley with impressive mountains all around. The Christian part, a beautiful medieval-looking church sitting up high....and of course a ...

Left Hector's at 10 am. I was very tired. We hit the road right after getting bread and fruit for breakfast. We ate breakfast and I decided to get some shut-eye after downloading all of the pictures from the day before. Conrad said he would wake me if he saw anything cool. I thought I was just about falling asleep when he woke me up for a "scenic detour". Wow, was all I could ...

We are staying in a little village called Avin. We visited Cangas de Onis which is a pretty little town with an ancient bridge. We went to the seaside at Llanes and went on a cliff top walk.

Next day we went to Desfiladero de Cares. The pathway was made at the beginning of the 20th centuary by the workmen who blasted out a course for a canal to supply water for hydro-electicity for the area. The walk is from Poncedos to Cain and winds it way ...

We awoke to the sounds the ocean across the street. A stroll revealled the Picos de Europe directly behind us. We toured the lovely old city, took some naps, played in another discovered playground, and set off again around ...

... beach, and eventually grabbed some pizza for take out. This place, Asturias, just made it seem like we were not in Spain. Rather, we felt like we were in some other land filled with an immense amount of vegetation and beauty. That night was low key; a couple beers and little wine and no major activities. The next day was practically pointless. We went to a place called Altamira that is home to ancient caves from 16,500 years ago where significant cave drawings were discovered ...

... the ferry to Portsmouth. It is sad to be finishing such an epic journey, sad too that we are finishing it in the wet. But in many ways it will be good to get home, to see family and friends, not to mention the cats, catch up with 12 month's post, then start the search for a new home. We will update the blog once more once we are home, with a summary of the highs and lows and we will each do a bit on our thoughts of the journey.

... for stuff to make a yummy spaghetti. Ah, how good it was after our previous abscence of choice... The house is now cleaner than we found it, our socks are almost dry enough to pack and I am dreading our first day on bicycle because my legs are sooo sore from yesterdays stellar hike.

... water was clear and beautiful. The beach wasn't too crowded but got more packed after 3 in the afternoon. I'm not sure why so late as the weather was actually nicer earlier in the day. I love European beaches, people are definitely less inhibited here...

... in small towns here along the coast, there are giant apartment buildings with laundry hanging out the windows on the interesting rotating clothes drying racks. I would expect to see this in big cities but these appeared to be fairly small towns. Where do these people work? Do they work? Finally got to Benia de Onis! Cute tiny town that barely registers on the map. I think the population is about 300... (After staying a few days I wonder ...

... city beach and the largest national park in Europe, the Picos de Europa, just 25 kms away. I tried to find someone who could tell me if Sporting were playing tomorrow. A sign on the front of the Sporting de Gijón store advertised "Excursión Universidad las Palmas", which indicated to me they were playing away. Palmas is in the Canary Islands so they were also playing far away. A friendly waiter at an exclusive lady's club ...