Via Ferrata
/At 9am on a sunny morning we drove down the impressive Hermida Gorge to the small village of La Hermida in the Picos de Europa.
Hermida Gorge is the largest gorge in Spain, 21km in length, with limestone rock walls up to 700m high on either side. It is home to cork oak, oak and beech forests and is a special reserve for birds, notably eagles and vultures, as well as chamois (goat-antelopes) and capercaillies (a rare type of grouse).
We had booked to go on a guided walk of the Via Ferrata, which a quick look in the dictionary defined as "a protected climbing route found in the Alps and certain other Alpine locations.The protection includes steel fixtures such as cables and railings to arrest the effect of any fall, which the climber can either hold onto or clip into using climbing protection."
Although it is possible to do the walk without a guide, you are required to have the right gear, namely a climbing harness, carabiners and a hard hat. Given that we didn’t have those items and didn’t really know what we were doing, we went for the guided option. We were met in La Hermida by two guides, Raphael and Lucia, both young, professional and fun. With them was Alejandro, a commercial pilot from Spain who spoke perfect English, making for an easy day of communication on the odd occasion when Raphael couldn't find the right word in English. We were also ultimately joined by two others, Daniel and Allie, and off we went.
There are four via ferrata routes from La Hermida, although one of them is not generally used by the guide companies as it is a genuinely challenging route only undertaken by skilled climbers. Our route was the longest of the other three routes. We quickly ascended, one at a time, duly clipped onto the cable railing and using the metal staples fixed into the rock for climbing. The via ferrata routes were inaugurated in 2010, and it is testament to the skills and perseverance of the locals that the entire route, including the bridges, were erected by hand, without the aid of mechanical lifters.
Although the walk was not technically challenging, it was physically demanding, involving a climb of about 700 metres, mostly vertical. Rather more fun, and challenging, were the two 'tibetan bridges' that we had to traverse. The first of these was a 40m long steel cable over a 300m drop. It didn't surprise us that quite a few people have to be rescued from the mountain when they get stuck at this obstacle. Safety involves clipping a carabiner to each of the parallel, shoulder-high, steel cables, one on the left and one on the right. This isn't for the faint hearted nor for those suffering from vertigo.
One of our group struggled with the crossing and had to be escorted by Lucia, who was incredibly supportive and patient. The rest of us crossed with varying degrees of trepidation. For my part, I was a lot more gung-ho before I started the actual crossing. I had visions of running across, secure in the knowledge that I was safely tied on. The reality was a bit different, as the wire was a lot more wobbly than it looked and the safety attachments were not actually supporting the crossing, they were just there in case you fell. It was still a relatively quick crossing and more exhilarating than frightening.
A short distance further on we came to the second of the tibetan bridges, a 100m long ladder bridge, the wooden slats just far enough apart for your foot to step in between them if you weren't looking where you were stepping. The drop underneath this bridge was more like 500m, and again, it looked a lot more stable before setting off than it did half way across. Fortunately only our previous nervous bridge crosser needed help, again from a very supportive Lucia, and the rest of us made light work of it.
It was a long walk down the mountain back to the car, which afforded a great perspective of where we'd been, especially the 100m ladder bridge suspended high up. We arrived back just before the regular afternoon thunderstorm started, delighted to have enjoyed yet another unique experience on our travels.
