Discovering Pico Enguinza

Soon after moving to Cantabria in 2003 Amaia gave me a book on hikes in Cantabria. This was a regular resource for our weekend hikes as we got to know Cantabria. One day, looking for the closest excursion around Santander, I saw Pico Enguinza (964 m), from Rubalcaba, a short 30 minute ride away. I escaped one sunny, slow morning at work while Amaia was away at her guardia, but was unsuccessful after misdirections from a local, unintelligable Meracho cowboy (term for person from the Miera valley) . But I did get to see the Pozos de Noja and a hidden valley with amazing views of the Cantabrian coastline. I was amazed at the sense of remoteness, only a half-hour out of Santander. But, it was a failed attempt, so I had to try again.

My second attempt at Enguinza Peak, following the official route (and not the Merecho´s suggestions), led me past several cabañas, and one in particular which I instantly fell in love with (actually next to the one I now plan on buying)--views of Santander, a dirt road recently made, solid rock construction...Unfortunately, night was falling and once again, I failed in my 2nd attempt to the top of Enguinza, but was even more in love with this hidden valley overlooking Santander. And I also better understood why this route wasn´t so popular...with my 2nd attempt only taking me to its base, near Pico Marmoja with its little cabañas, which I also fell in love with, see pix below:

Upon walking back to the car I saw the Meracho farmer with his sister and mom (below, finally captured by the sister) and asked about the cabañas, only to receive horror stories of the dangers of the mountain, thieves, people drowning in the ponds, and concluding with thier advice to go home, get something to eat, go to bed and safely watch some tv.

They asked what I did: I am translator; then they asked what that was: I described how I convert Spanish into English; and they continued to ask what was English: I had to explain that it was the way people in certain countries talk...and the sister had to interrupt and say her mother doesn´t understand that stuff... With this in mind, I began to understand the real isolation of these people, and so I didn´t take their mountain horror stories too seriously, and chalked it up as local colour fiction.

Grandma, me and excellent photo framing by her daughter

So finally, in my third attempt, I succeeded in reaching the peak and enjoying a full view of Cantabria, from Laredo to los Picos de Europa with Castro Valnera behind us. Being the highest peak in the general Miera region, its views are that of a much higher mountain. This was to become my favourite get-away from Santander, only a half hour away by car, and providing the sensation of a truly remote mountain hike. I´ve been up this peak 4 times now, and because of the karstic, jagged terrain and rarely marked path, I´ve probably never repeated the same final 15 minute scramble.