Last month’s unexpected and awesome jaunt in the Dolomites has been closely followed by the training of the new Collett‘s staff in their two Spanish resorts; the Picos De Europa and the Pyrenees.
First up was the Picos. A bit of an unsung hero in the mountain world- probably due to its lack of skiing in the winter. This is also its greatest attribute because not only is the national park more beautiful without ski lifts, it also encourages a steady flow of visitors around the year and makes Potes, the main town, pretty vibrant very early on in the summer season.
Potes is a super awesome place. With its Spanish-medieval look and cool, spirited feel to the bars and night life, it’s a great find in the Picos. The new team seemed to think so; we headed into Potes on a few occasions to taste the local delights at La Soldreria and to listen to live bands in the local bars. We had a blast getting to know the new team whilst exploring much of the hiking the Picos has to offer including; Fuente De, The Cares Gorge, Pena Oviedo, Pico Jano, Puerto De San Gloria, Lon and Brez. Alongside the walking and general mountain stuff we went through a fair amount of day-to-day running of the resort and we are grateful to the team for their energy and enthusiasm during the training.
It was great to see some familiar faces in the area and working with the family who run the El Corcal de Liebana hotel, bar and restaurant in Tama (which is the small village, close to Potes) was really lovely 🙂
A random bit of pub knowledge for you; whilst we were in Tama, a very famous Bollywood director was filming the latest adaptation of Heidi with Bill Nighy (who obviously isn’t playing the main part!) and Helen Baxendale. So, when it comes onto the silver screen you can be sure that the mountains featured in the film are definitely not in Switzerland, but are in fact in the stunning, Picos De Europa.
Les Vignes Basses 