This morning was quite cold and rainy here in the Picos. I mean, it’s very atmospheric- but makes the mountains hidden and is also less appealing for walks.

We had breakfast at our hotel – very simple – toast and coffee but enough to start the day with.

So we had this big plan today to go to the Lakes of Covadonga. I saw it on the internet last night. Apparently you drive up a mountain and then there are 2 lakes and some short hikes around the area – sounds ideal.

So after breakfast we set off. It’s about an hours drive though very windy and scenic roads – even in the drizzling rain. We had hoped it would clear up by the time we got to our destination.

As we got closer we started seeing groups of people walking – this is always a bad sign as it indicates a) it’s very busy and b)there is no parking.

Then we saw this huge cathedral on the top of the hill. What? I was not aware this was here. And more people. And some sort of church in the side of a mountain. What is going on here? Nobody mentioned all this!

We drove on until we came to the turn off towards the lakes where we were abruptly stopped by a boom guard and a guy that informed us that “you have to take the bus” and pointed in a general direction of a bus stop, and then just shrugged when we asked where we could park.

So the lakes dream was shattered – we drove around looking for a parking spot for a bit but it was so busy that there was no chance, so we toddled off back down the mountain. At the bottom we found a carpack and what looked liked a bus stop, so we went to investigate. The lady at the ticket booth was very helpful and we ended up buying tickets for the bus for tomorrow- and if we took the bus from the bottom of the hill, parking should be less of a problem.

So, now what? Our plans for the day were in shambles. We drive back to a nearby cafe/tourist shop that we saw and even though it was still a little rainy, we ate our lunch and a little rest area over the road.

Now, let me explain this lunch….the place we are staying at sells “picnic sets” – because most of the people staying there are hiking or similar. As we thought we were going to be spending the day up a mountains, we thought it was was to purchase a picnic set each for our lunch.

For 7 euro you get a boccodillo (roll) with ham and cheese, a piece of fruit, a bottle of water and a soft drink. Though we got an extra bottle of water instead of the soft drink. Now let’s just see a picture of the boxcodillo shall we?

Can you see the size of that? It was essentially half a load of bread!

I mean, it is good bread – very tasty but we maybe could’ve just shared one. Although Steve did eat all of his.

Giant lunch rolls consumed, we decided to head to the town of LLanes – on the coast and another place that was recommended to us by the lady at Sixt.

It was about another hours drive and at first it looked like the town didn’t have all that much to offer, but we persevered and found some parking. As we walked towards the town we found a walk way with views to the ocean – the Bay of Biscay we do believe. It was a little scary looking over the edge!

There were views over the town also – including an old castle.

And there was also a little beach. We had to get down there and touch the water. It’s always important to touch the water in different parts of the world.

We walked up to the town centre – lots of cute windy roads with cafes and restaurants- unfortunately we were here during siesta time so most places were closed. Siesta closures do make it a little tricky when you are travelling. But man, I think siestas should exist in all parts of the world.

We managed to find a place for coffee though. And icecream.

We had another wander along the edge of the ocean before driving back to Poncebos.

We dropped some things off at the hotel before heading down the hill again to a small town called Las Arenas Cabrales (or something like that, we are not quite sure) we planned to get dinner here.

But first we had to investigate this little archway/cave type place that people were walking to.

We discovered it was a cheese cave and you could do tours – but it was already quite late and the last tour was just about to start. So we gave it a miss and instead went straight to the gift shop and bought a wedge of cheese. You can’t buy this cheese anywhere else people – and the time to buy cheese from a cave is when you see it.

We wasted no time finding a bench to sit on and scoffed the lot. It was SO good. Nice and bitey. And I kid you not – cured me of the stupid sinusitis that had reared its ugly head over the last week.

Cheese consumed and head feeling clearer, we headed off in search of dinner. Our first dinner choice was a bust when they informed us that they didn’t have any bean stew left (all I’d been thinking about all day) so we found another place and although they had English menus the food ended up being really good. Especially the Inerico Coppa.

After dinner we drove back up the mountain to our hotel via a little vista stop. So picturesque around here – it’s hard to not take 2 million photos!

It also stays light until after 10pm so it makes the day really long, which is a good thing when you are trying to squeeze in all the things!

Turned out to be a very busy day!

(Oh and the street goats continue to make appearances around the mountains and wreak havoc with the motorists)