The Bikepacker: Bikepacking - Cistierna to Potes in Picos de Europa

Day #

State of Legs

:-)

	Distance (miles)	Distance (km)	Ascent (feet)	Ascent (metres)	Punctures
Today	60 miles	km	3232 feet	metres	0
Trip Totals	2492 miles	km	107347 feet	metres	0

Today's Route

Route So Far

Travelogue

Today was quite possibly the greatest bike ride ever!

I headed north from the town of Cistierna and very quickly found myself cycling alongside a river and in between steep, craggy hills which weren't quite mountains but hinted at them. The road was quiet.

The road took me to a large lake near Riaño which is dammed at one end. Presumably at some point, the valley beyond was flooded to create the lake.

I cycled through a couple of tunnels (never my favourite places on a bike!) to get to the other side of the dam.

To my surprise, I learned that the road is part of Camino de Santiago! I thought I'd left it behind in Leon! It is of course a network of routes to Santiago though, not just a single route.

There's a long bridge which spans the lake and takes you across to the town of Riaño. I was soon there and enjoyed the crossing.

In Riaño I saw a sign indicating I was about to pass into the Picos de Europa national park! Exciting :-)

The road now followed the edge of the large lake for a while. It was here that I became aware that I'd formed the wrong impression about the availability of water in these parts. Europe has suffered extreme heat this year and there are drought conditions in many places. But I'd seen rivers that carried a full volume of water, healthy streams and irrigation channels, full and flowing. What I'd seen, I think was a functioning supply of water. The source (I assume) did not look so good. You can see at a glance how dramatically depleted the lake has become. There's even an old stone bridge in the middle of a dry area of the lake. I'm guessing it was there before the lake was formed by damming and flooding the valley. This is all guesswork by the way. I could be wrong. I'm not wrong about the water levels though. Just take a look.

Continuing north from the lake, I stopped for lunch. A tasty bocadillo with a delicious Spanish cheese and a couple of cups of coffee.

From here, I climbed steadily for a long time. It was never particularly steep but the road did just keep going up. There were a few villages along the way and I stopped to fill my water bottles at one of them.

Eventually, I reached the top and the start of a 15 mile, utterly glorious descent!

The scenery just got better and better along the way. Capturing the splendour of the scenery in a photograph was a challenge. In bright conditions, I can't always properly see the screen of my smartphone! So, I made a few short videos as well.