Day 70 – to Brañavieja

Cloud and steady drizzle all morning meant limited views of anything more than 30 metres away, with the whole day all up above 1200 metres.

I moved eastwards around the Palencia mountains to Hoz de Abiada, and then on a road into the ski resort at Alto Campoo. The road goes through the newly constructed village of Brañavieja, where the lifts are based, at 1640 metres. The whole village is seasonally occupied, today a ghost town, though the construction design blends better with the surroundings than many I have been to. The road then winds on to its terminus for a further 6 kilometres, at 1980 metres. There are views across to the Picos, but not today.

From the head of the road it’s about an hour’s hike to the summit of Tres Mares, at 2175 metres, easy certainly, but made more of an adventure with a temperature of just 4C, a decent northerly wind lowering that by a few, mist and drizzle, and the occasional ice and snow under foot. It was back out with the merino under-layers today.

After a couple of hours out I retreated back down the road to the village to park up, it was out the wind, and had some breaks in the cloud during the afternoon.

We did get the occasional visitor while watching the IPL..

Here’s a spot the van photo..

The inscription up at the terminus car park is of a Spanish hymn composed in 1971, on the construction of the road and resort, by Juan José Guerrero and Gerardo Diego, which they dedicated to Isidoro Palacio, the manager of the Alto Campoo project.

It begins appropriately for a day like today.. (a rough translation)

“Not a veil of mist, nor of rain 
or sleet, nor a gift of snow, 
nor a bubbling of enshrouded fountains, 
was lost.”

Of interest are the lines..

“To the three seas that surround it, 
my waters run – distinct and pure.
To the Ebro, the Híjar, the Pisuerga, the Duero 
and the Nansa tumble from the cliff.

To three destinations: 
Mediterranean, Atlantic, Cantabrian. “

From this massif 5 rivers flow to 3 seas (the name of the mountain).

Though some dispute about the Duero, which actually rises in Picos de Urbión, 200 kilometres south east of here, though the Pisuerga is the Duero’s second largest tributary, so technically maybe..

The Cantabrian sea is what the Spanish call the Bay of Biscay.