It was a driving-about day today. We had missed seeing the inside of the famous 1000 year old church at Lebena on Monday, because it was closed every Monday 'for a rest', which is what the Spanish sign on the door means, literally translated. We arrived at the same time as a coach load of bouncy enthusiastic French teenagers, and their teachers, so we decided to wait till they had finished in the church before we went in. It was ages before they came out and when they did, they were all quiet and subdued. Bored into silence perhaps, since while the beautiful ancient building was very interesting to old people like us, it was not the coolest place we had ever visited. I particularly liked the centuries old gravestone before the altar, marked with a skull and crossbones.
We went next to the Picos de Europa Information Centre at Tama, which contained an interesting multi media exhibition about the many aspects of the area. There was a lot about geology, the rock formations and the mountains, about the mining of different metals, about the agriculture and crafts of the area, and about the people who live here and the wildlife. We watched a beautifully made film, with no words, so suitable for international visitors, showing the Picos through the seasons. There are boars and bears here and wolves, also chamois, otters, and roe deer, wild cats and genets.
We had lunch in the empty car park at Fuente De where a cable car usually runs but is closed for the week. The tops of the mountains were shrouded in mist but we had occasional views of the sheer, high rock faces leading up to the summits, and were amazed at the scale of them.
When we got back to the site we went for a walk, past some newcomers from Scotland, who have a smart new VW Camper, and a tent which is an exact model of their van. It looked like twin vans parked side by side, only one was a tent, which they use as an awning. They have a little baby called Rory (Ruaridh?). They are very friendly and are hoping to use their iPhones, set to Speakerphone Google Translate, to speak out their English translated to Spanish to the locals, because they don't speak it themselves.
We had chorizo with pasta for supper. One of us has had enough of chorizo. All this Spanish fatty meat can't be good for you. Give me a good leg of Welsh lamb any day.
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