No wonder everyone in Spain sleeps in until mid morning… behind the shutters in the morning it is pitch black!! ..and 8 o’clock snuck up on me very quickly! Opening the shutters brought with it a bit of a surprise. Where did the blue go? Misty grey filled the sky and we realised what a fabulous day we had yesterday in the mountains… and that we needed to put the roof on Penny today… no windows for her….but a roof does keep some of the rain off.

After a cuppa by the lake at Riaño we traversed the autumn painted rocky landscape and started to pass through larger towns with evidence of coal mining and energy generation plants at Robia. Valleys and gorges were dammed with huge concrete barricades – seeping out water when required for hydro electric power generation.

There was evidence of both old and new bridges…merging of civilizations across the ages. We had lunch protected from the rain under the Barrios de Luna cable stayed bridge, and Max explained in great detail how it was constructed. Such an incredible feat of human ingenuity, as were the stone bridges still making their presence felt in the landscape; spanning enormous chasms and valleys which were constructed thousands of years ago, many in the Roman times.

It was All Saints day; November 1^st and although Mr Wiki illuminated for me just before many traditions for All Saints day across the globe; what we noticed were that flowers in bunches were transported in the backs of cars; trucks and clutched in cold damp hands as they were being delivered to gravesites of loved ones. After the ceremonial cemetery visiting and offering of prayers and flowers, families gathered in hotel bars; and laughter and black woolen coats spilled out on to the narrow footpaths.  Along a narrow road an elderly man was diligently and determinedly carrying a huge cross – not sure to where though.

Piles of discarded small mining wagons settled along a gully in Rioscuro – just waiting for time to reduce them to rust. Old houses braved the elements alongside newer structures – and hope for habitation for some had been abandoned. Brussel sprout plants spired in lines around the perimeter of  diminishing quantities of brassicas – cauliflower and cabbages; and the yellowing discarded leaves of leeks and onions. Crates of slate and piles of discarded waste from slate factories filled the edges of the roadways of O Bacco whose geology was layered eons ago.

And then time to find a motel for the night and at last…a reception staff who could speak NO English! Yeh… more on that next post.

Click on the bottom image to view the rest of the gallery…