Where's Bertie? He's in a car park, in between a children's playground and an outdoor gym, next to the river, in the tiny village of Mier (exact location: 43.31515, -4.67470).
Weather: More glorious blue skies.
Our day started by weaving around a bit. Backtracking south from the coast, we returned to Unquera, where we had shopped on Saturday morning. We would have nipped back into the supermarket on this first pass, but an early-ish start meant it wasn't yet open. Instead we headed the 4.5km west to Colombres and breakfasted at the Aire there before availing ourselves of the service point. Backtracking once again to Unquera, a quick supermarket dash was done, before completing our squiggly route by heading south, to the village of Panes.
Just about everywhere we have been on the Cantabrian coast has had an air of properity about it. Houses have generally been well-kept, and there have been remarkably few abandoned building projects and house prices have been high.
We found Panes (which is over the regional boundary in Asturias) to be a bit shabby, with abandoned buildings and a significant abandoned building project. A doer-upper of a house can be bought there for €30k and a plot for €26k. It does, however, have a nice big sunny car park bordering what the signage described as botanical gardens, but which I would, if generous, call an arboretum. Whatever, it was a nice bit of parkland, alongside the river, and it had a good path that ran for 2.6km around its perimeter. We walked that path once, then I got changed and ran it twice, whilst Mick did another walking circuit (he has a sore knee; my sore knee is all better - Yay!).
Whilst the village may not have captivated us, the park's setting was lovely for a run:
View on the outward leg of the circuit.
Looking the other way
Our move from Panes to Mier was purely to position ourselves better for where we want to be first thing tomorrow morning. Before making the move there was discussion about whether this spot would be in the sun and, as we didn't know the answer, we left coming here until mid-afternoon. On reflection, we should have waited until half past five, because we got here to find that, as suspected, the sun had been stolen by the surrounding steep-sided hills. In full sunshine in Panes, it had been 28 degrees in Bertie (and that was with the door open). As soon as we arrived here we closed most of the blinds to keep the heat in and our breath was vapourising as we went for a look around.
That's where Bertie is tonight. It may be nippy, but it is stunning.
It's one of the reasons we are not going to stay in the hills for long. Our main stated destination of this trip had been the Picos de Europa, but we've been having such a good time on the coast (where it's mainly warm) that it has guided us to think that maybe being in snowy mountains, with lots of steep valleys where the sun barely reaches, is an activity better suited to a different month of the year (although no month of the year will make Bertie narrower or the roads wider, so in that respect winter is a good time to be here, as the roads are quieter).
Weather: More glorious blue skies.
Our day started by weaving around a bit. Backtracking south from the coast, we returned to Unquera, where we had shopped on Saturday morning. We would have nipped back into the supermarket on this first pass, but an early-ish start meant it wasn't yet open. Instead we headed the 4.5km west to Colombres and breakfasted at the Aire there before availing ourselves of the service point. Backtracking once again to Unquera, a quick supermarket dash was done, before completing our squiggly route by heading south, to the village of Panes.
Just about everywhere we have been on the Cantabrian coast has had an air of properity about it. Houses have generally been well-kept, and there have been remarkably few abandoned building projects and house prices have been high.
We found Panes (which is over the regional boundary in Asturias) to be a bit shabby, with abandoned buildings and a significant abandoned building project. A doer-upper of a house can be bought there for €30k and a plot for €26k. It does, however, have a nice big sunny car park bordering what the signage described as botanical gardens, but which I would, if generous, call an arboretum. Whatever, it was a nice bit of parkland, alongside the river, and it had a good path that ran for 2.6km around its perimeter. We walked that path once, then I got changed and ran it twice, whilst Mick did another walking circuit (he has a sore knee; my sore knee is all better - Yay!).
Whilst the village may not have captivated us, the park's setting was lovely for a run:
View on the outward leg of the circuit.
Looking the other way
Our move from Panes to Mier was purely to position ourselves better for where we want to be first thing tomorrow morning. Before making the move there was discussion about whether this spot would be in the sun and, as we didn't know the answer, we left coming here until mid-afternoon. On reflection, we should have waited until half past five, because we got here to find that, as suspected, the sun had been stolen by the surrounding steep-sided hills. In full sunshine in Panes, it had been 28 degrees in Bertie (and that was with the door open). As soon as we arrived here we closed most of the blinds to keep the heat in and our breath was vapourising as we went for a look around.
That's where Bertie is tonight. It may be nippy, but it is stunning.
It's one of the reasons we are not going to stay in the hills for long. Our main stated destination of this trip had been the Picos de Europa, but we've been having such a good time on the coast (where it's mainly warm) that it has guided us to think that maybe being in snowy mountains, with lots of steep valleys where the sun barely reaches, is an activity better suited to a different month of the year (although no month of the year will make Bertie narrower or the roads wider, so in that respect winter is a good time to be here, as the roads are quieter).
I'm loving this! I'm loving the curious details of the walks/runs/masochistic endeavours - each to their own! - but in the main yr glorious adventures. Keep it up, babes! We're reading you and we want more more more xxx xxx
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