A weeks snowshoeing in the Picos de Europa
Arrival in the village of Tama, near Potes
Our host for the week, Mike Stuart, picked us up in his van from Santander airport on the Monday morning. Instead of taking us directly to his farmhouse near Potes he took us on a tour of the coastline west of Santander. Mike went out of his way to show us the beauty of this northern coastal region. It was much appreciated, I never knew that such beautiful coastal scenery existed.
Delightful coastal scenery at the Mirador de Berellin
We also had an hour exploring the quaint medieval town of Santillana del Mar in Cantabria. This town is famous for its three lies ...
- It's not by the Sea! 2. It's not flat! 3. It's definitely not saintly!
Then we took a short diversion to the coast to the Mirador de Berellin, a real smugglers cove!
We arrived at his rustic farmhouse in Tama, just outside Potes, late afternoon. A few beers on his farmhouse balcony (El Balcon) went down very nicely before a lovely dinner prepared by his wife, Lisa.
We knew snow conditions were probably going to be good as we had been keeping tabs on what the weather had been doing in the prior weeks. Together with Mike and the upcoming weather forecast we formulated a plan for the forthcoming days commensurate with the ability and experience for our group of five persons.