cliff | Chaos roaming the world

We started the day okay, though Number 3 had some accidents while we were packing up. The first time, when he screamed as if he was really hurt, we ran to him and couldn’t really figure out why he was screaming so much. It just lay on the ground on his belly as if he had tripped…just…one of his legs was oddly twisted and…oh no…his foot was still pointing towards the sky. *shudder*

It turns out he was playing with a traffic cone when his sandal got stuck on a nail. He couldn’t get it loose and then fell… Luckily, toddlers are tough (and flexible). Once we had freed him and comforted him for about two minutes, he went off exploring again on his own.

So the second time he screamed like he really hurt himself, we just sprinted to him straight away. This time though, he hadn’t hurt himself at all. He had figured out how to turn on the camp ground’s tap for drinking water. What he didn’t anticipate was that he would stand in a stream of icy cold water afterwards. He was so shocked that he didn’t even move out of the way. He just stood there and screamed getting soaked from head to toe. Flo snatched him out of there but we both had to laugh really hard. Probably not smart to encourage him as he managed to do the same thing one more time before we left. *sigh*

Today was a driving day. We had to cover some ground on our way back so our next goal, the Picos de Europa, were a bit of a stretch for one day, with a toddler in the car. Guess we’ll see how far we get towards them. In an attempt to make stops as unnecessary as possible, we picked up bread around the corner from the camp ground and started on the daytrip.

Though one stop was a must. About 30 min from our camp ground, the cliffs of Garita de Herbeira beckoned to be visited. The cliffs are the highest in Europe, about 600 meters from where we stood into the ocean. We were lucky. The day was a bit of a rainy one and we timed it just right to be at the cliff when there was a whole in the blanket of clouds. Thus, we could actually see something.

Galicia is uncannily similar to Ireland or Scotland: Weatherwise but they also kept parts of their celtic heritage, including bagpipes. So we were standing at the rugged cliff, wisps of cloud drifting past, more fog coming up the cliffside, watching horses and their young graze around a stone building…and could have been somewhere different entirely.

Lunch was had on a motorway stop right next to wind turbine parts on trucks. It was a bit odd but luckily, the motorway was almost empty. Most of the afternoon was spent driving. Number 3 slept for a good while but started to complain once he was awake. Anyhow, Flo pushed on and we arrived at the Picos de Europa late in the afternoon.

The mountains of the Picos are beautiful. Definitely worth spending more time there than we have left. A paradise for hiking and rock climbing…and much less crowded than the Alps. Just driving through the first range to our camp ground was breath-taking already.

Super tired, we set up, ate dinner and put Baby into bed. Ready to go to bed myself, Flo suddenly found some energy to check out the camp ground’s bar. He said it was cosy and inviting, had some Spanish ham and desserts on the menu and really, we just should have one drink there. Which we did. Well, I had cheese cake which was nothing like German cheesecake but this rich, silky, yoghurt-y cream, topped with blueberry jam. It was well worth staying up for.

Ok, not quite here, but a good start
ok, even better!
So cute, he grabed Hubär to cuddle before sleep
Take a good look and hope the old people everywhere get it before they kill your future
three foals were about
Hi Mr. Horse
You sure, daddy?
long long way down
Ok, safer view
I wish the front would be powered by the back
fog came up, end of the world photo time
mommy, daddy is weird. Can I go now?
a lot of fog cam up
final viewpoint
just hanging out – is food ready?
wind power seemed the theme of the day
ok, good start
uuhh, cool drive
cool road rock fall shelter – plus intersting german tourist
I learned how this is called in Milford Sound – go me!
over 2500m tall, some of them
hmm … there would be mountains in the sky part, had I set the camera correctly …
the camp ground was deep in the valley surrounded by beatuies
almost ready for bed

Last night was a bit later than usual. First, because my kangaroo skewers took forever to get served, but more importantly because we had a beer and travel talk with Thomas from Berlin. He is the first motorcycle traveller that we met since starting this trip, at least for a longer chat.

Human added for scale (top of the ridge)

That, plus a couple of urgent emails requiring my attention in the morning meant that our plans for the day started with a delay right out of the gate. Not that one item makes for a very long list, but we also wanted to get some good distance in afterwards back to the Stuart Highway and north if possible.

That one item? The King’s Canyon rim walk, a 6 km walk (plus some detours along the way) was marked with a whopping 3.5 hrs. We got there around 10 with the bike fully loaded. That always makes for a bit of an awkward change from biking to hiking mode, but nowhere nearly as hard or annoying as in our early travel days.

Nina was ok with most of the walk, only my brief explorations of the edge off the 50m sheer cliffs was met with little enthusiasm.

This is called Garden of Eden

Although we took every detour, had lunch at the Garden of Eden and took way too many photos, we were back at quarter past one. Are we actually getting fitter? Either way, we were changed and back on the road by 2 pm.

I was keen on some bush camping, but from 4 pm onwards, the roadside was all fences, or desert plain without a single tree. So we pushed on a bit longer, on to the Stuart Highway and made camp at the Desert Oak rest area (Overnight camping is allowed here). I even found some good fire wood nearby. Thus, the day ended with a cup of tea next to a campfire on red sand.

Not too bad for a day to end.