The Bikepacker: Bikepacking - Potes to Fuente Dé

Day #

State of Legs

:-)

	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	14 miles	km	2707 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	2506 miles	km	110054 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

Route So Far

Travelogue

Today, I relocated to a campsite about 15 miles deeper into the Picos de Europa park at Fuente Dé which has a cable car and almost nothing else. The ride was nice enough and almost all uphill. 2,707 feet in 14 miles. But the point today was just to change campsites, nothing more than that.

There was nothing wrong with the campsite at Potes, in fact I liked it. But this park is wonderful and I wanted to see a little more. And I'd like to ride the cable car to the top if the weather clears and visibility improves. There's still a lot of low cloud around so I won't be going up today. Weather forecasts are largely unreliable as well. Mountains do their own thing and don't really pay much attention to what the forecasters are saying!

I met a Swiss couple on the ride here, both cycling. They were bikepackers but all their luggage had been left at their campsite. We had a very nice chat. They were very interested in my trip and I was able to tell them about my time in Switzerland too.

The new campsite is my kind of place. Low key, quiet and green. It actually has a bar that serves food but it's not like those big, noisy campsites that I hate. It's the other end of that spectrum. It has what they call a supermarket too. But I was just in it and it sells hardly anything! I managed to assemble ingredients for a lentil-based camping mush meal for later, so all's well. And if I get desperate, there's a supermarket 1.5 miles away I could cycle to.

I'm camped by a couple of German motorcyclists and we just had a long chat about all sorts of serious subjects like energy security, climate change, politicians in general and of course.... Brexit! We also touched upon the medieval system of units of measurement used in the UK (miles, ounces etc) and I heard that one of their Welsh friends had told them that some time ago, in Britain distances were measured in terms of the number of fish lengths or something! I suggested their friend may have been having a little fun with them! :-)

Anyway, nice campsite. Limited food options. Cable car. That's about it. Might have a wander. Might do some hiking tomorrow if the cable car is not an option. All good. And I can leave any time I like. Flexibility and Freedom. That's the name of the game.