We started early, the coach picked us up at 6:45am, most people on the street seemed to be going home at that time, or heading for a last drink before bed. Not us, we were off for another day in the mountains. The route this time took us from the hamlet of Soto de Sajambre up into the western fringes of the Picos de Europa and north to another hamlet called Amieva. The route followed, in large part, an old Roman road and I'll say this for those pesky Romans; they must have had very grippy shoes. I can picture it...


Marcus: Hey Julius, how's it going?
Julius: Oh, you know, not bad... for Iberia, I thought it would be sun sun sun but it seems to rain every day here. And the locals... ay all they think about is apples and cheese!
Marcus: Tell me about it. And the boss wants another road building. He's sent me the specs, here, look.
Julius: One Roman^TM road, from here to there, but he's specified smooth limestone blocks, has he been here?
Marcus: You know the management, he's directing us from his beachfront villa in Malaga. I think he's forgotten about rain.
Julius: But these blocks will be lethal in the wet. The legions'll kill us, if any of them get down alive.
Marcus: Hmmm, I've been thinking about that... what do you know about vibram rubber...
Julius: I always said you were ahead of your time ...

Seriously, the route was pretty slippy on the way down, smooth wet limestone blocks. Other than that, we had sun until we were at our high point, so we got some good views, I participated in the massed umbrella parade on the way down, and I was pleased to find that each time it's less and less like a day-long oral exam in Spanish. Once again, Pompayu helped pass the time on the coach trip with a wide ranging conversation taking in Ernest Rutherford, Sherlock Holmes, limestone geology and the current state of pensions in Spain. Quite an interesting chat and a route to be repeated (autumn would be a good time).  ¶ 9:37 AM