Author: Juris Rats

Picos de Europa is a cozy little mountain range at the north end of the Spain on the border of three Spanish provinces – Cantabria at East, Asturia at West and Castilia and Leone – at South. The mountain range stands at a distance of 20 or so km from Atlantic ocean. To be more accurate – from Bay of Biscay, or as it is called in Spain – Cantabrian sea.

A region between the Picos de Europa and the sea is called the Green Spain, because of the mild climate. While we were there (in October) the temperature were somewhere between 10 and 25 Celsius degrees. In the South of Spain (Valensia) the temperature was about 10-15 degrees higher.

According to one of the legends the name to the mountain range was given by whalers – the mountain peaks of Picos de Europa were the first they could see when returning home. Picos de Europa consists of three major massifs – Central, Eastern and Western. The Central and Western massifs are separated by the 1.5 km deep Cares Gorge (Garganta del Cares).

We selected Picos de Europa as the destination of our travel, in particular, because this is described as one of the few places in Spain where the wild nature has been well conserved. We decided as well that it should be cold in Pyrenees during October and we should rather go somewhere closer to the equator 🙂 As concerns the wild nature – we were not disappointed! We were surprised to find out though that Picos de Europa are closer to North than Canigou mountain and Eastern Pyrenees – the place we visited during summer. You can consult the map to make sure…

We took a Ryanair flights Riga – London (Stansted) – Santander, and return flights Santander – Frankfurt (Hahn) – Riga. We used Ryanair web page to book a car and picked it up at Santander airport. We searched one accommodation for all the time of staying (this should be less expensive). We booked a small house in village of Frama at 3km distance from tourist favorite town of Potes and about 30km distance from the Central Massif of the Picos de Europa.

diary:

Frama

San Pedro de Bedoya

Fuente De

Mirador del Tombo

Coriscao

Garganta del Cares

Tresviso

Colado de Verde

Cantabrian sea

Cuernon

Having packed the luggage we move out of the apartments and park a car nearby in the center of Rateče. Here begins the track to the Tromeja mountain where the frontiers of Italy, Austria and Slovenia meet(Tromeja means three frontiers in Slovenian). The route starts in Rateče, then takes us into forest where we walk the forest road and then turn of to the steep forest path. It starts to rain before we reach the path and it transforms in a shower gradually. The rain comes down in sheets when we have reached the Tromeja. The lightning and the thunder joins the show as well. We put on everything we have for this kind of event and take a look on a frontier cross (which looks more like a pasture fencing), a frontier signpost and a metallic model of the Slovenian mountains. The rain does not appear to cool down therefore we soon start our way back.

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We are back to our car at 12noon to start a way back home through Austria and Germany to Frankfurt airport Hahn. Our Pyrenees trip has finished.

It’s sunny. We drive to Bovec again – it’s Saturday and the cable raylway should function today. It should go uphill on full hours. We arrive shortly after 9am and see the people entering the bottom station. We nab our boots and rucksacks and run barefooted to the counter and then to the cabin. The drive uphill (1800m) takes half an hour or so. There are two stops – the train changes the cable here using some sort of shunts.

The top station is at the height 2200m above the sea level. No trees here – only whitish, rifted rocks and stones. The path to Kanin has difficulty level 4. It features cables, steel pegs and likes. There are four other summits on the way to the ultimate one. Both on the road and from the Kanin summit we enjoy some kind of Lunatic landscape. Rocks and stones all around, snow here and there. The clouds have followed us all the way uphill. Sometimes the sun was shining over Ilze and me while Benita and Imants were walking in a clouds shadow.

The final section of the route is a little bit tricky (it has all the promised extras – steel pegs, cables, steep path), still we manage to get to the summit. We return the same path. Shortly before the cable rail we take another path uphill to the Prestreljenik okno – a large hole in the rock. The view is stunning despite of the fog all around.

Having enough of Prestreljenik okno we walk to the cable rail and drive down. 27 degrees Celsius there.

We take pizza, cola with ice and coffe in the canteen of the bottom station. This returns us back to the condition to go and see Boka waterfall. The waterfall is 106m high (highest and largest in Slovenia) – there is a good view on it from the parking place. Nevertheless we take a walk to examine it closer.

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Our way back goes through territory of Italy.

Download file: Visoki Kanin.gpx

It’s cloudy, still the weather forecast tells there will be no rain. Hoping there will be not much fog up in the mountains as well we drive to the Vršič pass. We are there before 9am and the parking place already is almost full. The parking costs 3 euros (they collect the toll only in the morning, nobody is here to do the job in afternoons 🙂 ).

When we are ready for walk there ar almost no clouds anymore. It’s 13 degrees celsius but while ascending it’s getting hot soon. First we walk uphill to the mountain pass, then proceed to the Suhi Vrh summit. There we take a short rest and then return back to the pass. Next we walk to the other side of the pass up to the 2332m high Mala Mojstrovka summit. There for the lunch have arrived spot on time a bunch of alpine coughs. They already know that people get onto summits for a lunch.

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The nearby Velika Mojstrovka summit is covered in clouds. One can get there climbing the unpleasantly steep stone-scattered path. We decide to rather not go there. For the way down we select another path which follows the mountain ridge.

We are down in the parking place at 1pm after 4 hours walk. The height difference – 720m.

Close to our parking place there is a famous Ajdovska Deklica – the face of the witch hammered out high on the rock wall. The brochure tells that the face is hammered out by the Nature. We have already noticed the face when descending from Mala Mojstrovka. Unfortunately we did not manage to get close enough to take a close-ups. The last section of the path is very steep equipped with cables. We return back to the car taking the shots of the Ajdovska Deklica from several points.

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The last adventure of the day is waterfalls of Peričņik. The bottom-most waterfall opens to our eyes already from the road. We get to the upper waterfall as well and take a look on both.

Download file: Mala Mojstrovka.gpx

It rains during the night with some thunder rolling like a cannon. The morning wakes us with a fog. We decide to move southward to lake Bohinja. It still rains while we drive but as we come closer to our destination the weather clears off gradually. We leave a car in a toll parking because there are no other options.

The track follows the Mostnice stream, which has carved a deep, narrow gorge in the rocks. The water has formed various kinds of cavities and holes. There is a elephant-like rock in a middle of the stream.

The path takes us along the very edge of the gorge uphill. In a couple of hours we get out of the gorge and proceed by the mountain road to the waterfall Mostniški Slapovi. The waterfall is not very impressive, the views on the hills covered with russet-color forests are stunning. We see several salamanders and a slowworm.

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When getting down to the car we drive to the far end of the lake Bohinja. Here we take some shots of the Zlatorog (golden horn – a character from the Slovenian mythology) and have some swim in the lake. The water here is serene and clear. The bed of the lake is very steep (one need 3-4 steps to start swim). When we are done with swimming we get surrounded by a tiny fish. Waiting for treatment…

There is almost no wind. The mountains and trees reflect in the lake. What else one can wish from the life? Something for a diner maybe?

Download file: Korita Mostnice.gpx