UKC

I'm heading out in September to the Picos. Does anyone have any experience doing multi day walks, biving or staying in huts? It seems a lot of information for the area is 20 years out of date! I'm thinking of doing a traverse of the area, maybe 3 to 4 days in the hills?

any advice would be great

thanks

In reply to Kemics:

I did a 2 day walk with wild camp a few years back, would have to check the maps as to where exactly but somewhere above Rio Cares. Wonderful experience, couple of things worth bearing in mind:

Not too much water up on the high plateaus. I got caught out pretty badly, and a spring on the map I planned to camp near wasn't there on the ground.

Take a compass, fog rolls in off the sea really quickly and a blue sky day can go to minimal visibility really quickly.

In reply to Kemics:

I went to the Picos a few years ago with the same idea: walking between Lagos de Covadonga and Fuente De in 5-ish days. We ended up re-adjusting our plans after a couple of days. As Niek said, there are very few water sources, and the ones that are there tend to be next to the huts. You can camp near the huts, but that was not really the wild camping we were hoping to do. Also, the Cares Gorge running through the middle of the Picos, means a big descend & re-ascend if you want to traverse the area. We knew this, but hadn't quite appreciated how steep the descent was: we had full packs and I struggled to walk the next day due to sore muscles. As a result we decided to leave our camping stuff at a hotel in Poncebos, and then walked through the Eastern Picos for a few days, staying in huts.

It's an amazing area, and definitely worth spending a number of days walking across. If I'd do it again, I would plan it as a hut to hut trek. Lightweight approach made the second half of our trek far more enjoyable. I think the huts are about 12.5-15 euros (cheaper with a membership card), with dinner also costing that much (but there is lots of it!). Lunch was rubbish, bring your own & save the money.

We used these maps (top 2: http://www.thepicosdeeuropa.com/national-park/maps ) and found them very helpful. Paths are mostly marked, but can be difficult to find sometimes.

In reply to Brev:

Apologies if I'm hijacking a thread, hopefully any replies might add to the wealth of knowledge. I'm thinking of a round trip from Poncebos / Bulnes, up to the Refugio Hou de los Cabrones, climb a peak and descend via Vega Urriellu.

Any idea if a sleeping bag is required, or just liner?

And any advice on peaks? Depending on the company I may be fine with the odd pitch of Diff but probably looking for a walking / easy scrambling, don't bother with a rope kind of route.

Thanks!

In reply to Kemics:

Hi all, I was in Picos last September and I'm also from Asturias, one of the regions that the Park falls into, although I'm no expert by all means.

For those thinking of doing a traverse of the area, there is a sort of official one called "Anillo de Picos" [free translation: Picos Circular] which describes three different routes linking the different huts which vary in length and difficulty. English site: http://www.elanillodepicos.com/en/

With regards to whether a sleeping bag is required, I think it varies from one hut to another - I visited Vega de Ario and the requirement was to bring at least a liner with the hut providing plenty of blankets.

In reply to Joe G:

Hi joe,

So I went out mid September. And did something kind of similar. We crossed the picos from el cable down to bulnes and then along the cares gorge. As far as I could work out all the huts say you need a liner but don’t need a bag.

For route recommendations I bought a book out in the park that comes with a map and gives very detailed hiking route descriptions in English. I would definitely recommend it. If you want I can dig it out f the box and find out what it’s called?

In reply to Kemics:

having spent some time there this summer with family i would say the cicerone guide is fairly useful

In reply to Kemics:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Climbs-Europa-Cicerone-Climbing-Overseas/dp/185284...