Hiking in the eastern Picos: from Espinama and Fuente Dé
The best starting point for hikes into the mountains from the Picos’ eastern side has to be Espinama, though if you’re at all pressed for time, taking the cable car up from Fuente Dé and then hiking back down to Espinama (10km; 3–4hr) makes a quick and relatively pain-free alternative.
A superb trek (12.5km; 5hr) follows a dirt track (also passable in 4WD vehicles) from Espinama to the village of Sotres, 8km east of Poncebos. Setting off north from Espinama beneath an arching balcony alongside the Peña Vieja bar, the track climbs stiffly, winding past hand-cut hay fields and through groups of barns, until tall cliffs rise on either side to form a natural gateway. Through this you enter a different landscape of rocky summer pasture and small streams. As you near the highest point, 4.5km or perhaps two hours along, the track divides at a small barn; the left-hand path leads up to the Refugio de Aliva and the top of the cable car, but for Sotres you should continue straight ahead, past a chapel (visible from the junction), up to the ridge forming the pass.
Over the divide the scenery changes again, into a mass of crumbling limestone. In spring and winter, the downhill stretch of track here is slippery and treacherous to all but goats. From the foot of the hill, where a seasonal bar sells drinks, you’ll have to climb slightly once again to the east to reach Sotres itself, which, when it appears, has a grim, almost fortified feel, clinging to a cliff edge above a stark green valley. Alternatively, a zigzag climb to the west marks the start of the 5km route (around 2hr) to the more appealing village of Bulnes.
Hiking in the southern Picos: the Cares Gorge
Deservedly the most popular walk in the Picos takes hikers into the heart of the central massif, along the Cares Gorge (Desfiladero de Cares). Its most enclosed section, between Caín and Poncebos – a massive cleft more than 1000m deep and some 12km long – bores through awesome terrain along an amazing footpath hacked out of the cliff face. Maintained in excellent condition by the water authorities, it’s perfectly safe. Many day-trippers simply get a taste of it by walking as far as they choose to and from Caín, but with reasonable energy, it’s perfectly possible to hike its full length – in both directions – in well under a day.
The gorge proper begins immediately north of Caín. Just beyond the end of the road, the valley briefly opens out, but then, as you follow the river downstream, it suddenly disappears – a solid mountain wall blocks all but a thin vertical cleft. In its early stages, the trail burrows dramatically through the rock, before emerging onto a broad, well-constructed and well-maintained footpath, which owes its existence to a long-established hydroelectric scheme. During busy periods, the first few kilometres of the trail tend to be thronged with day-trippers thrilling at the dripping tunnels and walkways. Once you get 4km or so from Caín, however, the crowds thin out, and the mountains command your total attention. They rise pale and jagged on either side, with griffon vultures and other birds of prey circling the crags. The river drops steeply, some 150m below you at the first bridge, but closer to 300m by the end.
A little over halfway along, the canyon bends to the right and gradually widens along the descent to Poncebos. Roughly 7km and 9km into the gorge, enterprising individuals run makeshift, summer-only refreshments stands, handy as there are no springs. For its final 3km, the main route climbs a dry, exposed hillside; an alternative riverside path can be reached by a steep side-trail that zigzags down the precipice.
It is, of course, equally possible to walk all or part of the gorge from the north, starting at Poncebos.
Wildlife in the Picos
Wildlife is a major attraction in the Picos de Europa. In the Cares Gorge, you may well see griffon vultures, black redstarts and ravens, though birdwatchers keep a special eye out for the red-winged, butterfly-like flight of the diminutive wallcreeper, named for the mouse-like way it creeps along the vertical cliff faces. Wild and domestic goats abound, with some unbelievably inaccessible high mountain pastures. Wolves are easy to imagine in the grey boulders of the passes, but bears, despite local gossip and their picturesque appearances on the tourist-board maps, are very seldom spotted. An inbred population of about a hundred specimens of Ursus arctos pyrenaicus (Cantabrian brown bear) remains in the southern Picos, most of them tagged with radio transmitters; another isolated group survives in western Asturias.
Hiking in the northern Picos: from Poncebos and Sotres
For visitors based on the northern flanks of the Picos, Poncebos and Sotres are the best spots from which to start hiking. As well as being the northern trailhead for the Cares Gorge, Poncebos also lies at the foot of the path up to Bulnes. Allow roughly 1hr 30min for that climb, which branches east from the Cares Gorge trail 1km south of Poncebos, across the photogenic medieval bridge of Jaya. While it’s not a hard slog, you’re better off taking the funicular if you have problems with vertigo.