Ant Cooper

So yesterday didn’t quite end up as expected. I was on the road again about 11am. The bike being a bit heavier now after I’d stocked up on food and as most things come in multi-packs I’d got 3 cartons of juice, tins of olives,and jars of jam and pasta sauce. Non of that convenient de-hydrated stuff for me.

I reached the turnoff for Covadonga along an undulating road and set off up the climb, just over 1000m height gain in 20km, and used for Stage Finishes in past Tours of Spain. It sets off easy enough and after about 7km it steepens – I was really glad to be carrying all that shopping. Just before the last couple of km to the top there’s a cruel descent that loses some of that hard earned altitutde.

As I went on the weather worsened and by the time I got to the top it was raining and I was in thick cloud. I could only just make out the near shore of the lake. As I’d mentioned before the plan was to camp at the top. The Cicerone guide mentions permitted camping and a refuge. However, I couldn’t see further than a few meters and anything vaugely flat was waterlogged. I rode down a track to the Refuge, but that was closed up.

I put on loads of layers and set off back down the mountain aiming now for the campsite near the bottom. Once out the cloud, the rain eased and I weaved my way down an almost continuous 20km. Fun.

The campsite at the bottom was shut too, so the only option really was to find a hotel in nearby Cangues D’Onis. Found quite a reasonable place, then out to dine on a fixed price menu that included dessert and wine, not a total loss.