23.11 Covadonga Lakes, a taste of Picos de Europa plus Animal Farm.
“Where are we, Jen?” ‘Cangas De Onis.” “Thanks, dear—these place names get me sometimes…actually, most of the time. We live and pass through so many towns and villages, most looking alike except for restaurant names, which change. Nevertheless, it is very comforting seeing so many people sitting on the pavements/sidewalks having lunch and dinner. An awful lot of talking, drinking and smoking must take place each day. We are probably envious as we come down from the mountain dog-tired and return to the apartment after greeting people with a ‘Hola’ here a 'Buenos Dias’ there. I keep count of a lot of things, mostly irrelevant information. For instance, this week on the trails, actually only the one mountain was busy, we received ten warm greetings in response to ours, 83 grudging greetings, nine non-committals and four outright ignores. We are not despondent because the trend looks positive. Carrying on with the counting, in New Zealand I find myself counting sheep—in ...