How far would you walk for good cheese.
I’m drinking coffee on a sunny morning in the Pico’s National Park, on a fantastic campsite and wondering what the subject for todays blog should be . There is a well known simple tactic amongst writers, for precisely these moments , write about the first thing that comes into your head and don’t stop until it’s finished. Ok then cheese it is. The Pico’s National Park , or Picos de Europa contains a mountain range extending for about 20 km (12 mi), forming part of the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain.
The range is situated in the Autonomous Communities of Asturias, Cantabria and Castile and León. The highest peak is Torre de Cerredo, at an elevation of 2650 m (8,690 ft). In pure feet/metres it is not as high as the Alps , but make no mistake it’s peaks are stunning , moody and dangerous at times and deserve to be spoken of with the same reverence as the Pyrenees , Alps and the Dolomites , all of which we have visited and will forever remain on our hearts.
There is much sport to be had here, especially for someone like me who despite being 60 years of age next year , still feels the need to experience adrenaline and is desperate for the levels of testosterone to remain high in later life. A lifetime of service to the Crown should be experience enough to quench this fire , yet the inner core still craves, even at my age. I know we are not supposed to talk like this anymore , if we ever were, as we move from a generation where men didn’t talk about anything, to more recent times when feminism has changed the description of what a man should be. I confess to be struggling with the ageing process and heart surgery in 2013 distanced me even further from the confidence levels of the past. So accepting I have lost the war , I do look for battles to win where I can sip from the cup of machoism , a dangerous cup to drink from, as a little restores the feeling of manhood , too much however can lead to over reach.
My wife knowing me as she does, manages these emotions very well and often to her own advantage, as all good wives of 30 years do I suppose. Yesterday she announced “we need to buy Cheese’” !. Somewhat disinterested I replied “ there is some in the camp shop.”. “ No this is special cheese made in the mountains , only in this area “, was the reply. “Isn’t cheese cheese “ i replied. Being clever , she suddenly changed tack , “it’s a challenge , 1150m climb up hill , maybe across a ridge , we may get chased by calving mountain cattle , bears, tracked by Vultures and the odd wolf “. Triggering the latent manliness in my soul I immediately shouted “Oh I’m in”.
I knew that there are Brown bears in this area , wolves didn’t take much convincing but vultures !!. A quick check and it’s true there are Vultures in the National Park and we were soon to see them for ourselves. So we set off for Pendes.
The route initially follows the Valle of Libiana passed the Tama bridge before turning away and heading upwards to Pendes and the cheese factory. https://queseriapendes.com/
Pendes
Reaching Pendes wasn’t as straight forward as it seemed , as we had to deal with both cows and dogs , both who seemed to object to our Poppy , but why they would think she was a risk to them who knows , she’s more fur than teeth these days. After two months on the road her trip to the groomers next month is starting to become an important date.
So up the hill and back was just short of 15 miles , full of culture, wildlife and of course cheese. €12 lighter but armed with a special bag of mountain blue cheese we set off down the hill to try another local tradition, that of the Sidreria,. The local Cider is poured from height into a glass with some precision, but not always it turned out. Served with a local mountain stew , it provided for a perfect end to the day in the mountains and the feeling of manhood restored.
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