Day 38 – to Peñalba de Santiago

I finished Benjamin Myers’s new novel Cuddy this morning over coffee. It’s star is Durham Cathedral, originally built to house St Cuthbert’s tomb in the year 687. I’ll include a review separately, it does bear the usual dark humour of Myers, but is more ambition than his previous stuff.

Later on, I headed north for 45 minutes or so this morning after a short hike. I said yesterday there’s hardly anything in this area, but I was lucky to pass through the village of Truchas at the same time as the mobile bread van was there.

The road then goes up from about 900 metres over two remote mountain passes, Los Portillanos at 1957 metres, and Morredero at 1736 metres. The road is quite spectacular, 20 mph all the way pretty much, with the surface in a rough state.

At Morredero unfortunately there is a derelict eyesore of an old ski building. It really could do with being removed.

Just a few kilometres after Morredero is the small winding road that leads down, extremely steeply, to the village of Peñalba de Santiago. It is a little bit like the Struggle, near Ambleside, but with the surrounding mountains on a much larger scale. The surface on this road, is quite new, and needs to be, it loses 450 metres in 2 kilometres. In the summer apparently, it causes mayhem regularly with all sorts of unsuitable vehicles attempting it, in both directions.

Peñalba is a famous picturesque village of Spain. It is immaculate, with cameras on the narrow and newly cobbled streets to prevent any villainy from occurring. Parking in about 200 metres back up the hill, closer for residents, but no cars at all in the village.

It’s a bit false in its appearance of being so impeccably clean, and with its three car parks, looks these days like a model village constructed to have hundreds of tourists walking its streets. But not today..

I was keen for a wander around, and a beer. There was just one other car visiting, so a perfect time.

I’m here to do a hike I’ve researched tomorrow. The weather’s fine, partly cloudy and about 20C, but the occasional huge gust of wind, which mid-afternoon took the dog’s water bowl and bed off the side of the cliff, and needed a stealthy bit of recovering.