"Viajar a pie" is Spanish for "Travelling on foot"

Category: Cantabrica

Cantabrian High Route

WhereCantabrian Ranges
WhenJune/July
Distance434 km / 270 miles
Length15 days

Our average crest faint trail

I hiked the western half of the Cantabrian Crest in 2011 and the eastern section in 2015. In 2021, I went back to join all the dots because there’s nothing like traversing a whole range, end to end. The green grass, the grey rock and the blue sky, never mind the misty days.

This is a magnificent range and a high route is a challenging way to walk its length.

Cantabrian High Route Quick Facts

Bare data can contribute to define the character of a trip. Here are a few key figures and facts for my time in the Cantabrian High Route.

Cantabrian High Route Trip Summary

A 2 week trip on a high route along the spine of the Cantabrian Range. These mountains align east to west, parallel to the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula.

Cantabrian High Route

The Cantabrian Range runs along the northern coast of the Iberian Peninsula. It’s the boundary between two markedly different environments, the deep, lush, temperate coastal valleys to the north and the undulating highlands to the south, much drier with higher temp extremes behind the rain shadow of the mountains. The Cantabrian Watershed makes for a challenging, magnificent long distance trek.

Cantabrian High Route East

Hiking the crest

The Cantabrian Ranges run parallel to the Iberian peninsula northern coast for 300 km as the crow flies. It’s a region of grand beauty, complex geology and wicked weather patterns that make hiking a challenge. It’s the mountains, they’re big and we are small.

Thru-hiking the watershed divide is a tough call. Doing it in November adds to the challenge.

A one week allowance is not enough to hike the whole thing. What follows is an account of a 180 km route along the Cantabrian crest divide. 8 days hiking among the limestone giants.

Daily Account

The Blue Line between A and B

The complete High Route in the Cantabrian Watershed divide would take at least 2 weeks to cover to a strong, committed hiker. This trip was 8 days long in a season where daylight is getting short, no way I could hike the whole thing. I had a starting point and a way to go. The goal was to hike and be on my own for 8 days in the most magnificent of sceneries.

View route map for Cantabrian High Route Pajares Piedrasluengas on plotaroute.com

I didn’t record the hike so the plot above, drawn by hand, is not accurate, neither is the distance, which came out to 180 km (112 miles)

The menu on the right has the stage breakdown. The names will be meaningless but I need to put a name to the places!

Resources & Credits

You won’t find many resources on this route in anything that’s not Spanish. Actually, there aren’t many in Spanish either. Most internet resources and guidebooks focus on one-day activities and most of them will be about climbing peaks. Overnighting outside is not a popular thing, neither is long distance hiking.

Puerto de Piedrasluengas

This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Cantabrian High Route East

The high pressure conditions remain and the weather should be clear. I don’t know what caused yesterday’s fogs, maybe some cold air mass in the area. I would expect a new, clear day today no matter how dark and thick the fog was yesterday but I have a plan in case it remains: the track I was following would actually take me out of the mountains. It’d be acceptable given this is my last day of hiking.

Puertos de Riofrio

This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series Cantabrian High Route East

I wake up to a dry tarp and a view of a frosty valley below, fully endorsing yesterday’s camp choice. Actual site and orientation missed the best mountain view but I could see sunset and sunrise instead:

Good morning

Pico Gabanceda

This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series Cantabrian High Route East

In my lowest altitude camp I wake up to negative temps, high humidity and a good frost all over the place as a consequence. This is a classic example of temp inversion driven by sustained high pressure conditions: cold air sinks and humidity condenses. During the night there’s no sun to warm things up so the system stays locked.

Arroyo Vallejo

This entry is part 5 of 8 in the series Cantabrian High Route East

In the morning my tarp is dry and the grass around is dry as the valley bottom has frosted over. What a huge difference a short distance can make in the camping experience and how much nicer it is to pack a dry shelter.

Frost in the valley below

Arroyo de Valdosin

This entry is part 4 of 8 in the series Cantabrian High Route East

A small cirque at the very headwaters of a cantabrian valley, that’s the definition of the perfect overnight spot and I feel fortunate to wake up in such glorious place. The only downside in a mid-November morning is how long the sun takes to shine. I leave the area before I get a chance of getting any warmth. Morning lights are beautiful anyway.

Majada Vallin

This entry is part 3 of 8 in the series Cantabrian High Route East

Yesterday’s last effort was more than a last push for the sake of performance, it was also a statement.

It’s often easy to skip crest sections by joining saddles along the slopes or the base of the hill. This is fine as it is all part of what a High Route means: the idea is to follow a coherent line along the divide. Then there are cases like yesterday evening’s: the road to the ski resort runs parallel to the divide crest and leads to a gentle climb back to the top on a service track. I could have done all that in less than a couple of hours. It is not cheating, it’s just the -in this case- easy way.

Fuentes de Invierno

This entry is part 2 of 8 in the series Cantabrian High Route East

The night goes in between heaven and hell. Heaven because that’s what the night usually is: a time to relax, do nothing but rest, heal the wounds of the day’s work, feel at peace with the world. Hell because sometimes the world gets aggressive and you become a tiny piece of nothing at its mercy.

Busdongo de Arbas. Puerto de Pajares. Collado Valverde

This entry is part 1 of 8 in the series Cantabrian High Route East

I took the early morning train from Leon to Busdongo de Arbas, 4 km down the road from the Pajares pass in the divide. The train line goes north across the plains and into the foothill mountains, along a narrow, winding valley.

Gear

The trip was planned in non-supported, lightweight style. I packed food for 8 days and didn’t plan on any town visit. I was aware that some of the road passes I’d hike along that I didn’t know previously might have some sort of services. Two of them had.

Logistics

I took the divide at the Pajares road pass after a short hike up the road from the nearest railway station. The choice wasn’t random: that’s where my previous hike in the High Route finished a few years back. I would hike east and as far as I could go in 8 full hiking days.

Challenge

This is very personal and only tangential to the actual route. It’s about challenges, fears and how I’d cope with it all. The challenge will be at a rather emotional level.

Day 6: when my smile was genuine

Hiking the High Route in the off-season was something I could do. Feeling comfortable about it was a different thing. This latter was my challenge.

Description

This is a summary of some specifics about the Cantabrian Ranges and their High Route traverse.

Hiking the crest

First Impressions

Summer-style, multi-day backpacking in late fall requires some adaptation, not only in the gear: I usually take lower level, less exposed routes and/or plan for less days out in a row. This time I chose a summer route in summer style: 8 hiking days, self supported and a seamlessly compromising location.

Cantabrian High Route in November

November is a tricky time to backpack in the northern Iberia ranges: weather can be anything in a wide range of scenarios. One of them is very harsh, including cold, wet, fog, snow or the whole bunch.

The Cantabrian Ranges

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