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| The weather finally looked set to improve slightly so we headed into the Picos mountains (don't be fooled by all the sunny photos previously - they were taken in between the heavy rain!). Here 'god rays' at the Mirador del Fito. |
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| The Covadonga lakes - this was a sunny day for the Picos apparently! |
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| But there seemed to be quite a lot of grey stuff in the air obscuring the sun and the peaks! |
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| Luckily we got a bit of a break at the top of Jultayu (1,940m) overlooking the Cares gorge a looong way below. |
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| Looking towards the central massif - home to the Naranjo de Bulnes (hidden behind the other peaks). |
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| Old mine workings near the Covadonga lakes. |
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| The Covadonga monastery - famous pilgrimage site in Spain. |
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| The waterfall is testament to how much rain there'd been in recent weeks - it's normally a trickle! |
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| One of several shops selling some incredibly expensive and tacky souvenirs from the monastery! |
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| Me with a classic Bentley - strange juxtaposition as my trousers were being held together with gaffa tape at this point! |
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| At the viewpoint for the Naranjo de Bulnes - no sign of it today! |
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| Starting the Cares gorge walk - early enough to miss the crowds on the way up. |
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| Out the other side at Cain in the sunshine. |
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| On the way back down the sun stayed out - a rare thing for the Picos! |
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| And finally we got our first view of the Naranjo de Bulnes - it does exist! |
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| So after a few more days of rain we walked in to the base of the Naranjo - up and up into the cloud. |
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| When we arrived at the base of the peak after a 4 hour slog we were fully emerged in thick cloud and couldn't see the face at all, despite it being about 100m behind me at this point! It was pretty cold and grim so we just cooked and went to bed about 6pm(!). Here I am cooking the cous cous and chorizo slop that was to later make me throw up all night and give me crippling stomach cramps - a bug (?) that wouldn't go away for the best part of two weeks. |
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| But the next day was clear, with a perfect cloud inversion, so despite having no sleep or breakfast, and barely able to walk to the bottom of the route, we were up at 4am and set off on the Murciana route! Good preparation for the 550 metres and over 12hrs of climbing and descent that was to come. |
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| Birds eye view of the refuge and our tent a long way below. |
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| Still in the shade and still with over 300m of climbing to go. |
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| The sun finally came on to the face about 3 or 4 pitches from the top. In spite of the agony I was in the whole way up, I couldn't help enjoying it. Here's an excerpt from my climbing log: "Despite my stomach still cramping painfully, meaning every single movement was agonizing, the climbing was just so incredible I could still enjoy it. Bullet hard water-worn sheets of perfect steep limestone with pockets, crimps, jugs and not a sign of polish the whole way. There wasn't a bad pitch on the entire 17 pitch route (very rare for such a long mountain route) and many of them would have been 3 star classic single pitches! Certainly the best mountain limestone I've climbed on and possibly the best mountain rock period. Shows the Dolomites up to be the tottering choss heap that it is in comparison!" |
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| Almost there...on the final ridge scramble to the top - Tash takes over the lead! |
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| One very cold Tash and one very uncomfortable Ali - but both incredibly happy to be on top with such spectacular views over the rest of the Picos and all the way out to sea! |
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| Glad to be able to take my harness off for a while! |
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| Walking back round the east face to our campsite. |
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| The line of the Murciana route (ED1 or 7a/A2 - F7c+ totally free) |
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| Emley mast showing the scale. |
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| Next day the cloud was back to its usual place and obscuring the face again - SO glad we did the route the day before! |
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| Sheltering in the refuge - I was still in agony, even more so than the day previous... |
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| ...so we packed up our wet tent and walked out (me in tears at some points 'cos of the pain I'm not ashamed to say). |
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| Sacrificial throwing of the holey socks... |
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| ...and shoes! |
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| In their rightful place! The day after this, with the forecast poor for the next week and me still in agony, we decided to end on a high and got the ferry back to the UK early. |
