Potes to Tudes and back

Here we are in the Picos de Europa. 

After an easy journey - EasyJet to Bilbao then hire cars* to Collett's base in Tama - we enjoyed a pleasant evening with the other guests.

Sue and I have Dave to thank for waking us at 8.30 this morning. We just made it in time for the 9 am rendezvous for the day's walk.

There are five in our group - me, Sue, Andrew, Cary and Dave. We were joined today by four other guests - Dave and Sue and Mike and Sue, as well as Collett's 'unleader', Oscar.

Oscar turns out to be a rapper. His 'unleader's' 'disclaimer' rap was the most entertaining briefing we've had from Collett's. 

The walk was a short 9 mile jaunt to a pretty village, Tudes, where we enjoyed lunch at a picnic bench next to two tractors together with the local hounds and a teenage linguist.

Views were excellent, with cloud hanging at the top of the tree line, and jagged snow streaked peaks above.

We were back in Potes by 2.30, after 14.5 km (9 miles) and 500 metres ascent - an easy warm up day, though we may be stifled by unpredictable weather ahead.

Potes turns out to be a delightful town with many bars and ice cream shops. It's about 2 km down the road from our base in Tama, to which we returned for afternoon tea and chat.

Eat your hearts out, Mike and Marian - you have been missed - there was even a place laid for you at dinner last night!

* Typical Hertz: 

H "You have hired a Corsa; it's only €5 a day to upgrade."

M "No thank you, a Corsa will be fine."

H "Ok, here are the keys to your Opel Meriva." [That's quite a big car.]