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The Group

• The Petts Wood Boys – Chris, David, Ian, Ian, Stuart, Phil
• The Swindon Four – Allan, Dave, Dean, Martin
• Guy and Miranda
• Alex, Sarah, Steve and me

Hotel Torrecerredo

The hotel has been run for over 20 years by Englishman Jim and his Spanish wife Pilar. They are also Torrecerredo Tours, who in turn hold the contract as suppliers to Exodus. Álvaro therefore works for them. I’m told this is a fairly standard arrangement for Exodus holidays. Jim and Pilar are great people, friendly and approachable, between them a sound source of advice and knowledge for everything in the area.

My room was basic but clean and comfortable, with an ensuite bathroom (bath with shower over, toilet, washbasin). I’d paid a single supplement but had a comfortable double bed. The hotel has wifi which worked in my room. I didn’t see any of the other rooms, but I didn’t hear anyone complaining about theirs.

Food

The hotel food was good. Breakfast was the range of cold choices you would expect, plus two eggs cooked to order in the usual variety of ways including omelette. There was DIY toast, though the toaster took a long time. Packed lunches consisted of a large and generously-filled baguette, pre-ordered the night before from a choice of three fillings, with a help-yourself selection of cereal bars and chocolate. A basket of fruit was always available, and they never ran out of bananas! I only opened one of the cereal bars I had brought with me.

Dinner was always an amuse-bouche, soup, main course and dessert, all cooked and presented to a high standard. Main courses were ordered in the morning, always a choice of meat, fish and vegetarian.

My only criticism was the lack of vegetables: those that we had were served more as a garnish than a portion and I was feeling the lack by the end of the week. A salad option alongside the soup would also have been welcome.

Álvaro Saiz

Álvaro was one of two leaders to win Exodus’ Leader of the Year award in 2015, and it’s easy to see why. He seems to know everything about the area – geology, flora and fauna, the people and their way of life – and is eager to share his knowledge with guests. Ask him about newts, griffon vultures, orchids, farming, cheese and he’ll tell you interesting things about them. Just as importantly his knowledge of the local geography, the tracks and footpaths, valleys and hills seems inexhaustible, so his clients can have full confidence in his ability to look after them, choose good routes and keep them safe. We never had cause to find out what emergency kit he keeps in his large rucksack, but I suspect anything we might have needed is there.

Having had experience myself of leading walking holidays I can say there was not one occasion when I would have questioned his actions or decisions as leader.

Gear

I managed with a 20 litre day sack and my well-worn light Hi-Tec Trail boots (my ‘summer alpine’ boots). They’re not waterproof so I had wet feet some days. I carried a Goretex Paclite jacket and cheap light waterproof trousers. Some days I packed an extra thin fleece layer but only wore it once. A thin single-layer Pertex shell to protect against the wind served well when needed.

Maps and guidebooks

I bought the Alpina 1:40,000 2-map set from Stanfords before the holiday. It’s generally good for following the walks, but not every path we used is on the map. There’s a 1:25,000 series which is better and which you can buy in Arenas when you know exactly which one(s) you will need.

There doesn’t seem to be a good guide to walks in the Picos. The Cicerone guide I bought is seriously out of date (1989) and is mostly a book of rock climbing routes with only a few walks. There’s a clear gap in the market here, so Álvaro, I suggest you get in touch with Kev Reynolds or Paddy Dillon and write the definitive English language guide to Walks in the Picos!

Stats

I used Viewranger on my Android phone to track each day’s walk, and a Suunto altimeter watch to log height gains/losses. It is sensitive to 5 vertical metres. The Viewranger GPS track sometimes failed, especially in the steep-sided gorges of days 3 and 5. The Suunto has always produced reliable results, allowing for atmospheric pressure changes during the day. After the holiday Álvaro sent his own stats for each day taken off the map.

For the stats here I have used my own ascent/descent figures, the Viewranger distances for days 1,2, and 4, and  Álvaro’s distances for days 3 and 5.