At the beginning of August, together with João Saraiva and Mário Inocêncio, we headed one week to Picos da Europa to climb some old and modern classic long routes.
We started warming up and waiting for the weather to settle on the south face of the range at Hoces de Vegacervera. The following day we drove and approached Vega Huerta hiking from Caldevilla de Valdéon in between mists, cow bells and into the early evening darkness, bivouacking in a cave facing Peña Santa. We climbed the obligatory Resgate Emocional, negotiating the wall complex way down with a few references in mind from a previous activity and descending back to the car on the journey. A rest day spent travelling across the gorges to the north side was the perfect excuse to refuel with filling Asturian food and cider, as well as strolling the streets of Cangas de Onís old town amidst lively summer movement. The night was spent in a random football pitch on the way to Arenas de Cabrales.
Afterwards came the usual routine of sharing loads, walking to and pitching tent at Vega de Urriellu. The next morning Naranjo de Bulnes’ wake up call came in the form of a bouldery first pitch. It took me a couple of goes to send it, before continuing onsighting the remnant twelve rope lengths of the excellent Gizon Berri Bat Naiz (Soy un Hombre Nuevo). We took it easy on the subsequent dawn-to-dark, hydrating, chatting to recently meet climbers, searching for fresh shades around camp and solar showering with a view.
During the last 24 hours of this trip, I enjoyed doing the Rabadá-Navarro, seven hundred and fifty meters of Urriellu’s West face line of weakness, with Joãozinho. Five hours of fun climbing, before packing everything and walking down the valley, clearing straight into the car and Portugal through a late-night of driving that ended it all, as if we were a police patrol.
