Click on the photos to enlarge them

Through the Mountains with the Senderistas del Naranco

In the run-up to such a long time abroad, you do of course think about the best ways to meet people and make friends in Spain to assure the stay will be an entertaining one.  Excessive traveling around, as tempting as it may appear, is not a good solution - you wouldn't feel at home anywhere.  Other options seem more promising:  Mike works at the Technical University of Gijón where he teaches the laboratory class in machine design.  That's a great thing to do, because on the one hand he really enjoys teaching, and on the other hand his colleagues might be interested who this new professor from Germany is.  That might be a good starting point.  Besides that, Mecki and Mike also take a language course in Oviedo.  Improving your Spanish is always good, and, who knows, they might meet nice people in class.

But what Mecki and Mike are particularly keen on doing, is getting hooked up to a local hiking club.  Hiking - or senderismo, as they say in Spanish - is a wonderful pastime:  sporty, communicative and enjoyable all year round.  Besides, hikers are nice people, and hiking clubs can be found practically everywhere, in Rheinbach for example the Eifel Hiking Club.  It turns out that the hiking club in Oviedo is not called Eifel Hiking Club, but Grupo de Montaña Naranco, and that this club is actually a mountain sports club.  That’s why hikes with the Senderistas del Naranco always lead to one or two of the many beautiful summits of the Cantabrian Mountains.  It’s this club that Mecki and Mike plan to get involved in.

Every other Sunday, the Senderistas del Naranco set off bright and early at a bus stop on a chartered bus.  Inside the bus: great atmosphere, loud chatter, lots of anticipation for the tour ... a bit like a school trip for older people.  Too bad that Mecki and Mike don't understand too much of what's going on - for all the chattering is in Spanish - but increasingly often they do understand a bit here and there, and there's always someone to explain the most important things - usually with lots of gestures, sometimes in English.

Even if Mecki and Mike do not yet understand all of the senderistas' customs, the hikes seem to follow two important principles:  Rule no. 1 is that a senderistas’ hike has to be sporty, preferably with an elevation gain of more than 1,000 meters and a climb to one or two peaks.  Rule no. 2 is that the hike must be enjoyable and fun.  That's why the outward journeys always include a stop for breakfast.  Not only do the Senderistas del Naranco know the most beautiful trails through the Cantabrian Mountains, they are also familiar with many of the nice bars along the way.

These two rules always ensure a good start into the hike.  The hike up Peña Salón at the end of October, however, also starts with heavy rainfall.  Of course, to find some encouragement, you tell yourself that this surely won't matter much, that you're not made of sugar, that getting wet is no problem because you packed spare clothes for the return journey, and anyway, let's see how well all these vertical meters and the feeling of defying all adversities of the weather keep you warm.  In this mood, about 20 Senderistas bravely trudge off, over stones, through mud and in the rain uphill to the Peña Salón.  On top of the mountain, they shoot the mandatory summit photo and quickly head down before it gets too cold. 

Mecki and Mike find that that both the mountains and the trails are much wilder than those they are used to in the Eifel back home.  The mountains are wilder because they are much higher and steeper, and the trails are wilder than in the Eifel because they simply are not maintained by the Eifel Hiking Club.  In the Cantabrian Mountains, it’s the cattle that take care of trail maintenance.  Cows, horses and goats regularly roam free and their trails provide the hiking trail network in much of the mountains.

It's these narrow trails that form the Senda del Cartero leading from the valley up to the Peña Salón and back down again.  It’s a very steep and scenic trail, but also a very muddy one, and a very prickly one, too, due to the omnipresent thorny broom along the trail that ever so easily - and unpleasantly - stings through your pants.  That at least feels somewhat less bad in the rain.  Halfway back, the canopy of Casielles Chapel offers some shelter to take a brief snack, and then, after six hours of hiking, the bus waits for 20 drenched Senderistas.  Where does the bus park?  Surprise, surprise – of course right next to the village pub, where, thanks to rule no. 2, the hike comes to a homey end.

The question still remains as to whether the many meters of altitude and this alleged feeling of elation about having defied the adversity of the weather actually keep you reasonably warm.  The honest answer is no.  Vertical meters you descend back into the valley don't warm you up a bit, and this alleged feeling of elation about having held out and all doesn't make shivering in the autumn rain any more pleasant.  But all that changes abruptly upon entering the village pub.  In this warm and cozy place, and with a warm coffee or a fresh beer, the hike quickly turns into what it is to be remembered from now on:  as cold, wet and exhausting, but above all as very, very beautiful.

In two weeks, the senderistas will be setting off for the next outing.  Mecki and Mike will surely join the pack.

back to main page