We finished off the cake from La Guardia for breakfast and then headed off early for our cable car ride. There were already loads of people there when we got there at 9:30. We were glad to have booked in advance because we got to go to the front of the queue and scan a QR code to get in.
The ride up lasted four minutes and was really stunning. When we got to the top, there were some viewing galleries. I didn’t really fancy standing right at the edge of them, not being a great fan of heights, but Dave was in his element taking photos. His enjoyment was only enhanced further by the fact that I was freaking out getting near the edge!!! 🤣
At the top, there was a really cute herd of goats with bells. They looked very scenic with the snowcapped mountains behind them. When everyone started taking photos of them, they headed in our direction, no doubt thinking we had food. At one point, a goat made me jump by licking my bottom. 🤣There was another guy sat minding his own business. He suddenly got his head licked by a goat, who he didn’t really even realise was behind him!!
We planned to walk back down on Route 24, which the lady in the reception at the campsite had told me about.This was a 14.6 km gentle descent – or so we were told!! The views all around were absolutely magnificent, so we were very pleased that we had chosen to do it this way. It was really relaxing walking down a gently sloping path. After about 5 km, there was a hotel with a nice café, so we stopped for a coffee for Dave and a Kas limón for me.
We carried on quite a while and just when we were getting a little bit tired, there was a funny little bridge diverting our route. The next part of the walk was along very twisty, rocky little pathways and was a lot harder to negotiate. It was still really stunning and there were beautiful wildflowers, loads of butterflies and also the sound of cowbells in the background. After this, there was quite a long, forested section, which went up and downhill. The variety of landscapes made it a really interesting walk. We saw quite a few other people from our campsite on the way.
When we eventually got back to the car park, we shared a cold beer. It was heavenly!!! 🤣 Everybody who had done the route agreed that it was a little bit more onerous than they had been led to believe, but they were really glad they did it that way!! My phone was showing 23,285 steps and 16.8km. It was a gorgeous way to spend a day and the weather stayed nice. We got back to the campsite and had a nice siesta.
We decided to shower, dress for dinner and dine in the campsite restaurant. This was a good decision. We couldn’t get a table initially because they were full and take no reservations. We had a drink at the bar, then got a table, and had a sharing dinner between the two of us, which comprised of chips, pork loin, Picadillo (minced chorizo – very tasty) fried eggs, and a local concoction called borono similar to black pudding. It was really lovely with a great atmosphere and the view from the terrace was absolutely amazing. We think this is our favourite campsite ever and will be recommending it.
Words of the day:
Useful for van folk when checking out car parks!:
Pernoctar = to stay overnight
Se puede pernoctar = you can stay overnight
No se puede pernoctar = you cannot stay overnight
Borono = a kind of blood sausage from Cantabria (nice with apple)
The campsite website has details of that walk and others straight from the campsite: https://campinglaviorna.com/en/plans/
This is the official site if you want to pre-book cable car tickets: