Hi a family commitment is taking me to Spain for a couple of weeks in May. I have placed 2 alerts so far (in the Picos de Europa and Pyrenees) for hills that look to be achievable in our programme. If anyone has any helpful advice on those hills, I’d be very grateful. We’re heading down to Toledo after the Picos, before heading north to the Pyrenees. In exchange for my services as chauffeur I have been promised a few days for SOTA 
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Hi Andy,
I’ve seen your alerts:
Those 2 regions are a bit far away from me and I can’t, unfortunately, tell you anything about them. Never been there, nor heard anything about them.
The one in EA1/CT has never been activated, so I’m afraid you’re going have to be a pioneer there.
The one in EA3/LL has been activated once by the couple Alejandro @EA4DON and Elena @EA4DOS. They may see this post and may wish to give you some indication on how hard they found it.
I wish you a good time in EA and good luck with your activations.
73,
Guru
Gracias Guru. I’m looking forward to some warm weather activations!
Hi. I live relatively close to Picos de Europa. But EA1/CT-017 is a bit far away, on the other side of the mountains. In any case Picos de Europa is an impressive place, really beautiful.
You can check a good map at https://www.ign.es/iberpix2/visor/
I haven’t looked, but at wikiloc.com you can find climbing routes.
In any case, it seems that from Espinama there is a track that takes you near the summit. I guess this will be the best route.
I’d love to go with you, but I don’t think it’s possible.
In any case, I’m at your disposal if I can help you in any way.
73
Juan
Since you will be in EA in May, you should be having some warm weather activations, but don’t take it for granted, as May often is a very rainy month and I remember even seeing snow. You may find anything, so bring your stuff to protect you from the elements accordingly.
Alejandro EA4DON told me he will be able to send you something about that summit in EA3/LL by the end of the month, once they get back home to Madrid, as they are currently on a SOTA trip in EA1/SO with their mobile home. He told me he hasn’t yet posted on the Reflector and he needs your email address. If you can send it to me via PM or email, I’ll forward it to him.
73,
Guru
Thank you Juan. I will look at those references you posted. When planning I had thought of accessing CT-017 from the cable car up from Fuente De. Not sure how good the route is then, so will check on the maps you refer to. If you have any other recommendations in the area (we only have 1 day there), I’d be interested. We won’t be able to tackle anything too adventurous though.
Gracias
Hi Andy,
After having seen on the SOTA map where the summit EA1/CT-017 you would like to activate is located, I see many interesting places for you to visit.
On the top left corner of this image, you’ll see Ribadesella. It’s a lovely place in EA1/AT (Asturias) where my friend and SOTAri Javier @EA2GM owns a weekend QTH and you may even get to arrange a joint activation with him…
If you move on the coast line from Ribadesella towards the East, you’ll see Llanes, which is another very nice village in EA1/AT (Asturias).
Continuing towards the East, you enter into EA1/CT (Cantabria) and you’ll find San Vicente de la Barquera, which is another great beautiful village for you to visit and then Comillas, where you can see the caprice of Gaudi and the Pontifician University of Comillas, for instance. See: http://evamilano.eu/comillas/
Santillana del Mar is also a beautiful village. Every places along that beautiful coast line are absolutely lovely places to visit and enjoy.
I can, of course, recommend you Santander, the capital city of EA1/CT (Cantabria), which is, of course, a much bigger city than the small villages I’ve mentionned so far, but it’s still a lovely and elegant not too big city by the sea.
In case you fancy, I can also recommend you the Nature Park of Cabárceno:
It’s a beautiful natural reserve where you can see several animals living in semi-freedom. The Park was formerly an iron mine and you can read more about it here:
Cabarceno Natural Park - Wikipedia
EA1/AT and EA1/CT are in a coastal and mountaineous area I have visited and enjoyed several times and I can definitely recommend it very much to you and all readers of this Reflector.
Regarding EA3/LL (Lleida), being in the Pyrenees, I’m sure there will be great beautiful and amazing mountain places to see, but I confess I’ve never been there, so I can’t say too much. Since I was born, raised and still live in EA2/NV (Navarra), I already have quite a good portion of Pyrenees here and our neighbour region EA2/HU (Huesca) as to not needing going further to the East to EA3/LL for more Pyrenees mountains. But I’d like to do it one day, hopefully when I’m retired…
Best 73 and don’t hesitate to ask any questions you may have.
Guru
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Hola Andy!!
I´m in Toledo.
Let me know the days when you will be in Toledo … an easy SOTA reference can be waiting for you!!!
73 de EA4R ex EA4CWN Alfonso