Our campsite in the Picos de Europa mountains is a bit isolated we have found, being 2 miles from the nearest village, Potes. So today we set off down the hill to explore Potes, which also happens to be one of the main tourist villages in the region.

On the way a few items of interest caught our attention. The first was that virtually the whole way the path was lined by walnut trees laden with ripe fruit. The fleshy outer section of the fruit just starts to split when it is ripe and and this, when detached, reveals the walnut shell inside – a bit like a peach stone of a conker. During our return journey later in the day Sarah collected a bagful so we may be supplementing our diet with walnuts for the rest of our trip.

Fresh Walnut

In one small vegetable allotment we saw that the farmer had planted maize/sweetcorn and then grown climbing beans up the corn plant – two vegetables for the price of one. The other anomaly we spotted on our walk were small wooden huts, with tiled roofs, elevated from the ground on stilts. These were clearly not large enough for any form of accommodation so we assumed that they may be used for vegetable storage over the winter, possibly even for walnuts. We saw in Potes, where prices are no doubt inflated for tourists, it was possible to by Walnuts for only €6 a kilo.

Storage Building?

Potes itself was a bustling little village. By the number and size of the restaurants it is clearly very busy in the height of the summer, but today the crowds were not too bad. We visited the tourist information office to ascertain whether there were any walks we could do from our campsite (other to the village and back) and were disappointed to find that the main walks in the area all needed transport to reach the path.

Potes Medieval Bridge

We ambled around the central part of Potes admiring the generally ancient feel of the old town, which is bisected by a river over which there is still one medieval bridge. It’s a pretty little place and worth an hour’s exploration but not much more. I had read in my Rough Guide about a potent blue cheese for which this area is famous, called Cabrales, so I searched out a deli a purchased some. The woman who served me sealed my purchase with a vacuum machine, telling me the smell is very pungent so it was best sealed for the journey back to the campsite!

Potes with Picos de Europa in the background

By the time we had finished our mooch it was time for lunch and not wanting another three course whopper we settled for a sandwich each. I tried a small glass of the local specialist cider, the Spanish name for which is easy to remember – Sidra! The one I tried was very dry indeed and tasted much better with food than on its own.

Potes Church

On our return journey I hoped to be able to photograph the spectacular mountain scenery we had seen on our to drive the campsite yesterday, but unfortunately the mountain tops remained shrouded in cloud, despite it being a pretty sunny day generally.

Potes river

Although the campsite is a very pleasant relaxing place, we have decided we will not stay here for long. We had hoped to use the site as a base to do some walking in the Picos, without having to manoeuvre Basil down the narrow mountain roads, but that does not look possible. Other than chilling out and walking into Potes there is nothing else to really do and so I think we will be moving on sooner rather than later.

Potes Street Scene

Old Farmhouse