A good roost for two old bats on the loose? La Cueva de Soplao

The last morning and an afternoon ferry to catch from Santander a 100 km to the east. With a morning free to enjoy we drove through rain and mist (gosh that was a change in the weather!) to the Soplao Cave.

The view from the van when we woke up at Vidiago on our last morning

The cave is in the hills inland from the coast though pretty well on our route and through all that dampness we saw a different side of Spain - more like England!
The cave was discovered by the "La Florida" miners at the beginning of the 20th century and they, realising the tourist value, didn't damage it in their search for the zinc and lead ore as they might otherwise have done but opened it to the public. There are 20 km of tunnels in all some open to the public and more to "adventure tourists".
We arrived early, and were later glad when we saw the queues that were forming later in the morning (wet day = don't go on the beach!). There is a small train which take you to the cave - could have done with something like this at Segobriga! - and then a guided tour of a kilometre or so.

Departing for the mine

Smile Jan!

A glimpse of an old drift leading into the cave

Heading into the caves

Unfortunately no photography is allowed in the cave but there are some fantastic pictures on their website (look under "galeria" at "formations"). Some of the most amazing "eccentric" stalactites I've ever seen, in particular. I had to make do with some postcards.
After a coffee and a bun.... might be our last opportunity.... we wandered back outside towards the van, detouring past this Asturian miner who was just asking to have his photo taken:

Nearing the van... "Oh blow", said Jan, "I left the lights on". And it was "oh blow" too, not a peep out of the battery! First of all we tried the breakdown company - no record of renewal... terribly sorry but she couldn't help. Nobody around in the car park, so we headed back - ticket office was no go - besieged by a lengthy queue of visitors waiting for tickets; we tried the shop... she didn't know any local garages open on a Sunday - perhaps tomorrow? We explained we had a ferry to catch but although she was very sorry for our predicament she couldn't help.
Then we tried fluttering our eyelashes at a chap sweeping the cafeteria floor... our battery was flat... would he be so kind as to give our camper van a little push please? The damsels in distress bit worked really well, he and I pushed, Jan jump started it, others in the car park made sure nothing was in the way of our downhill run, I jumped in and we were off!
All downhill from here... well to the motorway anyway... and 80 km to the Ferry Port gave the battery a good charge. It even started OK again the next evening when we arrived in Portsmouth!

Adios Santander!

Bonjour France!

Somehow the coffee isn't the same out of a paper mug... the pain au chocolat was OK though!

In Pompey around 10pm, we drove on through the night - such lovely empty roads! - to home.

NEXT.... the two old bats, still on the loose, head north....

Up, up and away to Fuente De with the two old bats

Some twenty years ago we stayed in the Cantabrian Mountains for a couple of nights before heading south to Andalucia. We went to Fuente De but I chickened out of the cable car - I'd never been on one before and quite honestly this appeared to go straight up vertically - it looked like a lift dangling in mid air without a lift shaft!

The time was ripe to lay this particular ghost so, off we went for a grand finale for our road trip! The route south through the mountains goes through the spectacular Desfiladero de la Hermida to the pretty town of Potes before turning west up the Rio Deva valley to Fuente De.

The Desfiladero is just wide enough for the road, and the river which carved it, and runs between high limestone crags

After turning up the Deva valley towards Fuente De the valley widens but the high crags are still very impressive

An earlier version of the cable car was this 1903 aerial ropeway built by the mining company
La Vieja Montañesa which carried miners and equipment to Fuente De.

 A variety of zinc blende/sphalerite called blenda acaramelada was mined here, which can be cut as a gem, being hard, brilliant and with a lovely "caramel" colour.
The aerial ropeways developed here in conjunction with the mines were later used at tourist resorts. A fascinating insight into the development of something we now take so much for granted!

Early aerial ropeways built on the Fuente De model - this one at San Sebastian

And this one across the Niagara Falls whirlpool, 9 years after the successful San Sebastian one was installed

The present cable car was built in the early 1960s and was at one time the longest single-span cable (1.419 km)
in Europe with a height change of 753 m.

The views on the way up, and at the top, are superb.

Curly rocks from the cable car (tinted windows)

Panorama of the glacial cirque at the end of the Deva valley

And looking down the Deva valley

Hard to give an impression of the sheer crags at the head of the cirque

Once at the top there are paths leading away from the cable car station, and opportunities for bird watching and botany. The flocks of Alpine Choughs were particularly noticeable and splendid, but flowers easier to snap!

Info about birds

Gypsophila repens

Eryngium bourgatii

This sells in gardens centres as "Picos Blue" eryngium

Gypsophila repens

Many of the flowers grew in cracks in the rocks

Ponies grazing, and hillsides dotted with little purple stars (Sue what was it called?!)

Alpine choughs (probably waiting for a picnic handout!)

And a lizard

Meanwhile, back to the rocks.... this lovely weathering of limestone caught my eye

A short way along a side path we found some rock that wasn't limestone!
Bands of silt and black shale - something going on there in the depositional environment

A quick search for fossils in the limestone revealed some crinoid fragments

I was going to check out Google Earth for an image that I could include of the paths at the top but GE in their wisdom have used images taken when the area was covered in snow! Hmmm.

We got back to the top cable car station around lunchtime and enjoyed a snack and a drink sitting on the terrace with the splendid view in front of us.

The platform on the right is quite exciting - a steel mesh floor you can look straight through!

Not checking her emails, taking photos!

Time to go down

The view from the cable car

Half way! Perhaps have a go at that zig zag path next time?

Finally back down the gorge to our coastal campsite.

One more day to go and we've heard of a beautiful limestone cavern to visit, handily only just off the route to Santander where we'll get the ferry

Two old bats discover a drive-through cave and go dinosaur hunting

Cuevona!

A Spanish friend tells me that the suffix "...ona" means "very big": we were intrigued by the name "Cuevona de Cuevas de Agua" nearby our campsite and made our way there.... good thing we are used to narrow country lanes! We eventually found the place, billed as "one of the few natural caves you can drive through". Visitors aren't encouraged to do so though and there's a car park (free) signposted off the lane just before the cuevona itself.

The entrance to Cuevona

The road through the cave is the only access to the village which must have made it a pretty secure place to live in less secure times - rather like one lone gunman holding the pass in a Zane Grey novel!

People standing in the entrance give an idea of scale. As well as the road, a stream runs through the cave

Don't touch.... stock route... for safety wear high visibility garments.....

What's pretty amazing about this is that it is FREE! Even the car park!

Curtain of stalagmite

There's a little bit of well-placed lighting

Light at the end of the tunnel, and a small side tunnel on the right

Coming out into the daylight at the far end you enter a secret valley (though there is a railway line!) which has an abundance of amazing granaries propped up on the biggest staddle stones you ever did see!

Staddle stones with Jan for scale!

Going in the reverse direction to get back to the campervan we saw all the cave formations in reverse of course. What an amazing place!

Back into the Cuevona - the stream on the right is protected by a concrete barrier

Some of the stalagmites and stalactites

The light at the end of the tunnel - Jan for scale again!

Then we went on a dino-hunt

Jan kindly drove a couple of times around the roundabout so I could get this shot!

Jurassic coasts don't stop at the English Channel - Asturias has its very own Jurassic Coast with numerous exposures where traces of dinosaurs can be found.

Asturias' Jurassic coast showing where dinosaurs have been found

At the Museo Jurasico at Colunga there are outdoor, full size models, as well as replicas of trackways. 

Jan feeding the Triceratops

Behind you!

Wow!

Inside the museum has plenty of explanatory displays.

Information about the trackway

Replica trackway

Showing how the muscles fit onto the skeleton

Superb displays

Description of the measurements that can be taken from trackways and the use to which they can be put

We managed to resist the lure of the last room in the museum... the shop! 

Tomorrow we are planning to go high in the Picos de Europa, on the cable car at Fuente De.