More on yesterday's hike
As I mentioned yesterday I did a hike to Pico La Loral with Marian, another auxiliar. Here is a bit more detail about the day. Map of track on Runkeeper
We met in the main street of Oviedo at 8:45 (very civilised time, I thought). The group had a small bus which cost 12€. Very reasonable and a great convenience. There was maybe 25 people or so who came. Marion and I were definitely the youngest people there, but as the day showed we were far from the fittest!!
First we stopped at a small town outside Oviedo, for a cafe break. Very civilised I thought. So if you skipped breakfast, you could make up for it here.
We drove to Yernes and jumped out, rugged up, group photo, and we were off just before 11am. Everyone had been given a map and a description of the route, but my intention was to just follow people, so I didn't want to let people get too far ahead. We were about in the middle, or at the back of the first group. I thought maybe the people at the front would wait at some point and let people regroup, but no. (Later one of the other hikers complained to Marion a bit about this, that some of them hardly stop for anything, even a photo op. Imagine being in a rush on a social hike! Weird...)
The weather was overcast and it rained for most of the walk, but only a very small amount, so it wasn't too miserable. Much worse was the bitingly cold wind, especially ascending the peak.
The walk had been described in the handout as 5 hours and "easy" (or "low" difficulty level at least), although they said the bus would be picking us up at 3pm. Perhaps I misunderstood and that is when the bus would first be available, rather than the time everyone was expected to arrive by.
Anyway the first few km were on steep country roads, surrounded by leisurely fields with some occasional horses and cows. I was fascinated to see small fields with fences constructed by low stone walls. Just imagine the labour to construct them! How long you must live there to make that worthwhile. I commented to Marion that my idea of hiking involved walking amongst trees. I suppose in Australia hiking is nearly synonymous with bush walking, but if I went to the Great Dividing Range mountains more often in summer I might have a different idea.
When we got near Pico La Loral, people started heading directly up the side of the hill rather than by the road which zigged and zagged back a little less steeply. Some people (mostly people behind us) chose not to climb the peak and followed the road around the peak instead.
By the time we got to the top it was maybe 1 or 1:30pm. It was not an especially high or impressive peak, I might add. We could see Oviedo in the far distance, but we saw nicer views later on. But I think if you are walking in the mountains, you have to have a peak!
I brought with me a small bag with two sandwiches (one blue cheese, one banana and nutella), some almonds, a 500ml bottle of watered-down Powerade, some bandaids, some cream for chafing, some wet wipes and some hand sanitiser. (We went to a restaurant after the hike but I didn't know how good it would be for vegetarian food.) On the last few 100m up the peak the wind was fiece and icy cold - my running tights were definitely not cutting it. I was bargaining with myself, "When I get to the top, I'm going to have a sandwich... definitely the banana and nutella." And I did and it was fantastic :D
After making our way down we made a brief detour to visit a large cave. Then up out of the valley and we continued on a road that was like on a ridge, winding around a valley, for the next few km.
The final part of the walk was doing 1 or 2km steep descent down into the valley, via a true walking path, that is narrow, very muddy, surrounded by brambles and ferns and trees and some chestnuts. I am quite surprised that this part of the hike would be described as "low" difficulty. I don't know if that is a subjective opinion or if there are some guidelines about how hikes are judged. Anyway if that was "easy", I would doubt my ability to do anything harder!!
After we made it down, we sat around a bit waiting for everyone and I inhaled my second sandwich. Some people got changed behind or in the bus, many people brought different tops or jackets and a second pair of shoes. Pretty smart I guess - it would be another 2 or 3 hours before we got home, and if it had rained heavily you wouldn't want to be sitting in wet gear for that long. Lucky for Marion and I the weather hadn't been too bad beause we had nothing. But now we know for next time! Next time I would also bring more water, and the same amount of food - even with eating at the restaurant after, eating along the way was definitely necessary and improved my mood!
The bus took us to the restaurant (a few people chose to walk to it, another few km). It stopped at a couple of places so there was only about 10 of us at our restaurant. It had a fireplace! The waitress was super lovely when I told her I was vegetarian and suggested a plate with fried cauliflower. It also had homemade chips, some strips of capsicum, some beetroot, and some corn. Like kind of random, and definitely low on protein, but all nice and tasty elements. Everyone else ooohed and ahhhed over my dish. (They all had the menu of the day which was ordered ahead.) I also had Marion's coffee and part of her dessert from her menu of the day. In the end it was a solid feed. And the people with us were lovely! They asked about us and included us. Many of them have been members of the club for years and years. They organise a hike nearly every week (Sunday) of the year, regardless of weather I believe. One guy said in 7 years they hadn't repeated a route. Wow. They also said that in spring and summer they do higher peaks, because the days are longer. (Not a bad thing that I have started now, then - will be fitter by the time spring rolls around.) In spring they will probably organise a route in the Picos de Europa which I 100% want to do.
We left the restaurant around 5:45 and got back to Oviedo about 6:15. I was so happy with how the day had gone. I went home and had a wonderful hot shower, and got dressed in my PJs and jumped into bed to write up my LJ entry and upload photos. :)
Today I slept in (I have Mondays off), and predictably my calves are like knots. I am surprised at how many twinges I am feeling from my core muscles as well - I guess balancing while descending might work them a bit. In the afternoon I went to Lugones Decathlon and bought some proper hiking pants for 50€ (about AU$70-75). I am super excited about wearing them, and they will probably be mega handy for Christmas in Germany too! They are not the warmest warmest ever, those pants tend to be for people in snow, but I figure I am unlikely to be out in such conditions, and also I can wear running tights as a layer underneath if need be.
I also got some relatively-cheapo (11€) fleeced running tights, which I am more likely to wear cycling, or as a layer, a beanie and some liner gloves which have touchscreen compatible tips on the thumb and index finger which is awesoooooooooooome. My hands don't often get cold so I think these thin gloves are ok, and I can always wear my cycling gloves overtop if need be.
So yeah, I'm pretty excited about hiking right now!! :D
We met in the main street of Oviedo at 8:45 (very civilised time, I thought). The group had a small bus which cost 12€. Very reasonable and a great convenience. There was maybe 25 people or so who came. Marion and I were definitely the youngest people there, but as the day showed we were far from the fittest!!
First we stopped at a small town outside Oviedo, for a cafe break. Very civilised I thought. So if you skipped breakfast, you could make up for it here.
We drove to Yernes and jumped out, rugged up, group photo, and we were off just before 11am. Everyone had been given a map and a description of the route, but my intention was to just follow people, so I didn't want to let people get too far ahead. We were about in the middle, or at the back of the first group. I thought maybe the people at the front would wait at some point and let people regroup, but no. (Later one of the other hikers complained to Marion a bit about this, that some of them hardly stop for anything, even a photo op. Imagine being in a rush on a social hike! Weird...)
The weather was overcast and it rained for most of the walk, but only a very small amount, so it wasn't too miserable. Much worse was the bitingly cold wind, especially ascending the peak.
The walk had been described in the handout as 5 hours and "easy" (or "low" difficulty level at least), although they said the bus would be picking us up at 3pm. Perhaps I misunderstood and that is when the bus would first be available, rather than the time everyone was expected to arrive by.
Anyway the first few km were on steep country roads, surrounded by leisurely fields with some occasional horses and cows. I was fascinated to see small fields with fences constructed by low stone walls. Just imagine the labour to construct them! How long you must live there to make that worthwhile. I commented to Marion that my idea of hiking involved walking amongst trees. I suppose in Australia hiking is nearly synonymous with bush walking, but if I went to the Great Dividing Range mountains more often in summer I might have a different idea.
When we got near Pico La Loral, people started heading directly up the side of the hill rather than by the road which zigged and zagged back a little less steeply. Some people (mostly people behind us) chose not to climb the peak and followed the road around the peak instead.
By the time we got to the top it was maybe 1 or 1:30pm. It was not an especially high or impressive peak, I might add. We could see Oviedo in the far distance, but we saw nicer views later on. But I think if you are walking in the mountains, you have to have a peak!
I brought with me a small bag with two sandwiches (one blue cheese, one banana and nutella), some almonds, a 500ml bottle of watered-down Powerade, some bandaids, some cream for chafing, some wet wipes and some hand sanitiser. (We went to a restaurant after the hike but I didn't know how good it would be for vegetarian food.) On the last few 100m up the peak the wind was fiece and icy cold - my running tights were definitely not cutting it. I was bargaining with myself, "When I get to the top, I'm going to have a sandwich... definitely the banana and nutella." And I did and it was fantastic :D
After making our way down we made a brief detour to visit a large cave. Then up out of the valley and we continued on a road that was like on a ridge, winding around a valley, for the next few km.
The final part of the walk was doing 1 or 2km steep descent down into the valley, via a true walking path, that is narrow, very muddy, surrounded by brambles and ferns and trees and some chestnuts. I am quite surprised that this part of the hike would be described as "low" difficulty. I don't know if that is a subjective opinion or if there are some guidelines about how hikes are judged. Anyway if that was "easy", I would doubt my ability to do anything harder!!
After we made it down, we sat around a bit waiting for everyone and I inhaled my second sandwich. Some people got changed behind or in the bus, many people brought different tops or jackets and a second pair of shoes. Pretty smart I guess - it would be another 2 or 3 hours before we got home, and if it had rained heavily you wouldn't want to be sitting in wet gear for that long. Lucky for Marion and I the weather hadn't been too bad beause we had nothing. But now we know for next time! Next time I would also bring more water, and the same amount of food - even with eating at the restaurant after, eating along the way was definitely necessary and improved my mood!
The bus took us to the restaurant (a few people chose to walk to it, another few km). It stopped at a couple of places so there was only about 10 of us at our restaurant. It had a fireplace! The waitress was super lovely when I told her I was vegetarian and suggested a plate with fried cauliflower. It also had homemade chips, some strips of capsicum, some beetroot, and some corn. Like kind of random, and definitely low on protein, but all nice and tasty elements. Everyone else ooohed and ahhhed over my dish. (They all had the menu of the day which was ordered ahead.) I also had Marion's coffee and part of her dessert from her menu of the day. In the end it was a solid feed. And the people with us were lovely! They asked about us and included us. Many of them have been members of the club for years and years. They organise a hike nearly every week (Sunday) of the year, regardless of weather I believe. One guy said in 7 years they hadn't repeated a route. Wow. They also said that in spring and summer they do higher peaks, because the days are longer. (Not a bad thing that I have started now, then - will be fitter by the time spring rolls around.) In spring they will probably organise a route in the Picos de Europa which I 100% want to do.
We left the restaurant around 5:45 and got back to Oviedo about 6:15. I was so happy with how the day had gone. I went home and had a wonderful hot shower, and got dressed in my PJs and jumped into bed to write up my LJ entry and upload photos. :)
Today I slept in (I have Mondays off), and predictably my calves are like knots. I am surprised at how many twinges I am feeling from my core muscles as well - I guess balancing while descending might work them a bit. In the afternoon I went to Lugones Decathlon and bought some proper hiking pants for 50€ (about AU$70-75). I am super excited about wearing them, and they will probably be mega handy for Christmas in Germany too! They are not the warmest warmest ever, those pants tend to be for people in snow, but I figure I am unlikely to be out in such conditions, and also I can wear running tights as a layer underneath if need be.
I also got some relatively-cheapo (11€) fleeced running tights, which I am more likely to wear cycling, or as a layer, a beanie and some liner gloves which have touchscreen compatible tips on the thumb and index finger which is awesoooooooooooome. My hands don't often get cold so I think these thin gloves are ok, and I can always wear my cycling gloves overtop if need be.
So yeah, I'm pretty excited about hiking right now!! :D