Escaping the weather

We stayed in Potes for four nights and during that time the weather was very hot, with the last two days maxima in the mid 30s. Bizarrely, last Friday night was one of the hottest, as at bedtime it was 27C and even in the middle of the night it was 25C.

The forecast though, was ominous for the Picos (and worse for the UK) and so we made the best of the day by zooming up the valley to Fuente De.

Here with perfect planning, we had booked the cable car for 10:30 and were whisked up in one cable catenary swoop, from 1,100m to 1,800m.

It was sunny with wide views and we walked up a barren valley until we reached a steep scree-crossing path, where we turned around. Any further and it would have needed full kit and sleeping bags, as we were heading for a refugio. We got our fill of that high mountain and were back down in time to escape the mountains before the weather broke.

The committee had decided that a city break to Leon was next and we had an overnight opportunity somewhere along the route . The clouds built and we drove across typical high plains with forest, rocks outcrops and some grazing, watching large birds of prey and spotting the occasional Stork’s nest.The whole area has been devoid of water for weeks. It’s completely parched. We began to see signs of fires with great swaths of land where the undergrowth was completely burned away and the trees mostly very well singed.

The thunderstorms began. The wipers were on max and we made our way gingerly through a very long valley with both sides completely burnt black. Fortunately just before we reached our chosen overnight stop, the rain relented.

Now all we had to do was download another app, register, pay €20 and let ourselves through the barrier with the provided code.

Registration required all of my personal details plus suggested others such as gender preference favourite colour, name of first pet - you get the picture but it is Spain and everything needs to be recorded.

Once in this small unmanned aire,  we realised for our €20 there was a very pleasant small cabin in which to sit, with Wi-Fi and also a high quality shower room with toilet that can only have been installed last week, it was in such good condition.

 So for the price of a campsite, we stayed at an aire with campsite facilities although no shop and no pool. The squeeze at Potes for €23 (ACSI rate) is a bargain given the facilities there but everywhere the rates are very much less than at home.

Leon, a university city with some lovely buildings, has two or three car parks specifically for campervans and motorhomes. We chose one that was just 10mins walk from the cathedral. It’s always a little risky in these places. They might be noisy. This one was not and the noise of the city diminished to a hum after about midnight but I was already fast asleep.

There’s a place to put grey and black waters and get refills of clean, with no locks to undo. In fact the whole place is freely accessible. The fee is paid online via yet another app but this one is €5 including the watering facilities but no electrical hookup.

Leon is beautiful. It was Sunday and we had a great wander around, listening to the mighty organ playing the congregation out, as the cathedral service ended. Later we would pay the senior’s fee to go in.

It seems to be a family city with many out and about enjoying a very cool but sunny day.

We had a very long lingering menu del dia in front of the basilica where a very odd thing happened. The statisticians out there will hopefully shed light on the ‘chances’. As we sat people watching, a couple went to a table near us and i recognised them from the ferry. They had sat in our line of sight as we whiled away the first few hours of the crossing.

Quite a coincidence I think - which led me to confirm it really was them by saying hello. I was right. They were surprised too, especially when I said that Lord Hain had been there too. Of course they then claimed that they too were members of the Upper House but I didn’t fall for that one.

The basilica is old and impressive but the Gothic cathedral is one of the best. Apparently this style is a result of the designers of the time realising or discovering that arches don’t fall down when they have less stone work in and around them. So this building is full of windows; a huge amount of stained glass and my poor iPhone camera can’t do justice at all to the magnificences of the place. Here are a few attempts.