Day 4 - Up to the Top
Monday 28th August 2017
At the end of a twisty back road half an hour's ride to the west of Potes lies the tiny village of Fuente Dé with its cable car ride up into the central heights of the Picos de Europa. Wikipedia has this to say about it:
The line covers a 753-metre (2,470 ft) vertical drop. Its bottom station is located at 1,090-metre (3,576 ft) and the upper one at 1,850-metre (6,070 ft). Cabins transport capacity is of 20 people and the trip, which does not have intermediate stops, lasts 3'40". ...Fuente Dé ropeway is the longest single-span aerial lift of Europe.
After breakfast at the Hotel Valdecora I ride up there to Fuente Dé to have a look. I arrive before 10am on a Monday morning but already there are a lot of cars in the car park and a queue has formed at the ticket office.
It costs €17 for an adult return fare and you must go get a ticket from the gift shop / cafe before joining the queue for the cable car itself.
There are several hundred people ahead of me and the wait lasts over an hour. I shudder to think how long the wait would be at the weekends or later in the day.
The wait is well worth it. It doesn't take long to soar up to the top, just below the towering central peaks of the range, and the views are wonderful.
There is a cafe at the top so I get a coffee and sit on the terrace admiring the vistas. I can see the car park way down below but it is too far to make out the bike.
I spend an hour wandering around and taking photographs. There are lots of trails leading off from the station and up and over the surrounding mountains. Lots of walkers make a one-way ride up then walk back down but that's too strenuous for me.
So I head back down again and make my way to the bike. As I am walking from the station I'm searching in my pockets for the keys. I don't have them! I've carefully locked helmet and bike gear to the bike then left the keys in one of the pannier locks.Pretty dumb but nothing is missing. My faith in humanity remains intact.
It is still early in the day so I take a circular 100km route back to the hotel.
When I get there I find a group of bikers from Wales have arrived. I join them for a beer or two and we discuss our trips.
They have been coming to this region for a few years now, and are regulars at the Valdecora. They invite me to join them for dinner at a favourite steak restaurant.
At the end of a twisty back road half an hour's ride to the west of Potes lies the tiny village of Fuente Dé with its cable car ride up into the central heights of the Picos de Europa. Wikipedia has this to say about it:
The line covers a 753-metre (2,470 ft) vertical drop. Its bottom station is located at 1,090-metre (3,576 ft) and the upper one at 1,850-metre (6,070 ft). Cabins transport capacity is of 20 people and the trip, which does not have intermediate stops, lasts 3'40". ...Fuente Dé ropeway is the longest single-span aerial lift of Europe.
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| Waiting for the cable car |
After breakfast at the Hotel Valdecora I ride up there to Fuente Dé to have a look. I arrive before 10am on a Monday morning but already there are a lot of cars in the car park and a queue has formed at the ticket office.
It costs €17 for an adult return fare and you must go get a ticket from the gift shop / cafe before joining the queue for the cable car itself.
There are several hundred people ahead of me and the wait lasts over an hour. I shudder to think how long the wait would be at the weekends or later in the day.
The wait is well worth it. It doesn't take long to soar up to the top, just below the towering central peaks of the range, and the views are wonderful.
There is a cafe at the top so I get a coffee and sit on the terrace admiring the vistas. I can see the car park way down below but it is too far to make out the bike.
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| Car park way down below |
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| ...and jagged peaks above |
So I head back down again and make my way to the bike. As I am walking from the station I'm searching in my pockets for the keys. I don't have them! I've carefully locked helmet and bike gear to the bike then left the keys in one of the pannier locks.Pretty dumb but nothing is missing. My faith in humanity remains intact.
It is still early in the day so I take a circular 100km route back to the hotel.
 |
| Around Potes |
When I get there I find a group of bikers from Wales have arrived. I join them for a beer or two and we discuss our trips.
They have been coming to this region for a few years now, and are regulars at the Valdecora. They invite me to join them for dinner at a favourite steak restaurant.
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| Dinner with the Welsh contingent |
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| Potes central |
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| River view over the rooftops of Potes |
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