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In the autumn of 1997 twelve keen sixth formers signed up for the expedition and organised themselves into groups for their Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award Expeditions. Matthew Causer, Matthew Johnson, Kai Fung Ma and James Nicoll called themselves The Barons. The Bandits included Jonathan Church, Roger Eaton and Jackson Kyle, and Michael Ashton, Marc Delon, James Goodkind and Dominic Hargreaves were The Muppets. Martin Lanchester arranged to fly to Spain and meet us out there, and Andy Beer, an environmental consultant and experienced mountaineer, agreed to join us to asses the Duke of Edinburgh's Expeditions.
We planned routes, hired a minibus, bought the ferry tickets and travellers cheques, printed the expedition T shirts, and, after protracted discussions with the insurance company, arranged the extra cover needed for the two days of serious mountaineering. At 5.45 a.m. on 7 July we assembled outside Dyne House and prepared for the long drive to Spain.
Contributions to this report were made by all the members of the expedition. Thanks are due to everyone at Highgate School who helped with the expedition and with the production of this report. Most of all I would like to thank all the expedition members for their enthusiasm and goodwill during a hard but immensely rewarding expedition.
Fred Wickham
Whilst packing the minibus the giffer/yuppie/geography teacher, George arrived in his VW Golf Gti (Mk2); oh 16v as well.
After the bags had been packed around us, we cruised through London and on to Dover and got an early ferry. We were treated to the comforts of what P&O had to offer, a shabby Egg McMuffin from the Golden Arches. What's more, the ferry was swarming with over excited geordie ten year old girls. Our rescue came in the form of the familiar "bing-bong" "Please return to your vehicles"
We raced down the autoroutes, and, after a few navigational problems through the misleading hamlet called Paris, we continued until we reached a roadside café. We had lunch and continued on our way. After about six hours more hard driving (with breaks), we reached a picnic spot on the side of the motorway just past Bordeaux for diner and bed. We had pasta with pesto sauce and then curled up in sleeping bags under the stars; n.b. no tents, too much hassle. The hassle would have been worth it because we were rudely awoken by a light shower.
Spain was our destination, and off we went the next morning. On the way we might have listened to the complete stock of 'Our Price', from 'The Ministry of Sound' to 'The Doors', from 'R.E.M.' to 'Speed Garage'.
When we got to the border there were naturally some idiots amongst us who had packed their passports in their rucksacks which, were in the back of the minibus. Eventually we crossed the border and drove on to San Vincente, where we stopped for lunch. We were about to tuck in when Matt J decided to throw his fish stew down his shirt. This, however, did not stop us from munching straight away.
After a few more hours in the minibus we arrived in Cangas de Onis, where we bought food for the next four days and met up with Martin, who had made his own way out by plane and bus. Impressively, the LDV minibus made it up the steep mountain road to Lago Ercina, base camp. We pitched tents and settled down after another meal a-la-George, ready, or so we thought, for the week and a half ahead of us.
Roger
Anyway, after dumping our bags we started the interesting part of the walk for that day, up to El Mirador'. This was a hefty walk uphill but it was well worth it. Upon reaching the mirador, we were confronted by a sheer drop on the far side of about 1400m. (The distances do not matter after about 300m anyway. If you fall that's it for you.) At this viewpoint is the burial place of a great walker who lived in the area and who wanted to be buried there upon death.
Due to all the hard work we had, we decided to have lunch. As well as this, we also did some well-earned sunbathing. After lunch, we had an interesting scramble up 'Pico Cotalba', a high point in the area. At the top there was a small contest to see who had the best ability to climb certain parts of a relatively hard rock face.
The evening was spent with a mixture of relaxing in front of the sun as it went down between the mountains and the delights of 'El Duderino's' (George) Cooking.
James G
We rested after an hour's ascent at the Collado les Merines (2041m), a cool and sunny spot where we were wearily looked upon by a small group of unimpressed cows. Blas whacked and whooped the cows aside in hearty Asturian style and we set off on a traverse across the screes that would lead us to the foot of Torre Santa Maria. One minor rockfall and a rather steep zig-zag 'pog' later we reached the Horcada Santa Maria (2354m). We fuelled up with digestive biscuits and used an opportune snow patch to (a) melt some snow for drinking water and (b) have a high altitude snow ball fight.
We descended across the disconcertingly steep snow patch and then across scree to reach the foot of the climb by 11.30a.m. Half way across the scree Martin chose to dislodge a metre high boulder into his leg, which understandably caused him some distress. The boulder sped off at great speed down the mountainside only to stop slap bang in the middle of a huge snow patch below. Mildy amused by such events we soon reached the bottom of the climb and began uncoiling ropes in preparation for the climb.
Blas disappeared towards the skies up the first pitch and the fifteen of us slowly followed up a fixed rope. The next section involved picking a relatively straightforward line up along a wide ramp to finally gain the summit ridge at 2450m. A further roped pitch and some minor difficulties finally led to the summit where we lay about, ate more biscuits and marvelled at the stunning views surrounding us, while Jon was sick behind a rock.
Having importantly introduced our France '98 mascot ('Footix') to the small metal statue of a rather fetching Santa Maria we began the descent. This involved three bold abseils (particularly for the uninitiated!) and a fair amount of loose rock dodging. We finally arrived at the bottom of the roped sections at about 3p.m., where we enjoyed a late and leisurely lunch on the scree in the sun.
An hour later we set off down across the scree and snow past the 'Lanchester boulder', descending by a combination of sliding, jumping and falling over. We were soon on steadier ground and wound our way down a good path to our bivouac site on the lip of a huge solution crater, Jou Santu.
After a memorable supper (the details of which I entirely forget) Blas and Bene fixed up some ropes on a nearby crag and we duly practised our abseiling and climbing skills for an hour or two. A few grazes and wobbly legs later we were soon all tucked up with varying degrees of cosiness (Roger and Jackson!) in our little 'bivvy' enclaves. Exhausted, sunburnt and a little bruised we drifted off to sleep to the gentle rhythm of Mathew Johnson's grunts and snores.
George
On the third and final day of our pre- expedition warm up in the mountains, it was our aim to climb the highest mountain in the entire Western Massif - The massive Castilla, or 'The Castle'.
Kitted out in harnesses and climbing helmets, we started the climb up a long snow field, which was one of the foothills of the mountain. One of the most remarkable geographical features of the Picos de Europa mountains, in my opinion, are these large patches or fields of snow which are scattered throughout. It is quite outrageously brilliant to step from scorching hot rock onto what seems a snow piste in a single step.
Although the climb itself was not technical, I'm sure the others will agree that it was the most thrilling climb that we attempted. I think it pushed the group further than anything else we did during the entire expedition. For me it was the highlight of the trip. It is amazing how much pleasure something so simple can give, and I assure you, the view from the top ... - well spectacular is an understatement.
On descending the mountain, one section was particularly tricky, as demonstrated by Jon, and we had to put into practice our abseiling skills, and descend one by one, down an almost vertical section of rock for well over 40m.
Looking back, I still laugh when I remember one moment: Once we had all reached the bottom, we decided to take it in turns to see who could slide the furthest on a stretch of snow. However, we soon bored of this, and took to a snowball fight, and the moment I still laugh at, is remembering 15 snowballs hurtling towards a certain Mr. Church. 5 minutes later we had our own Michelin man!
After this, it was a quick lunch, (at an absurdly outrageous 5p.m. I'll have you know). Back at Vegaredonda Andy had arrived from England, and all those being assessed rushed to buy him a drink, while George and his sous-chefs prepared another gourmet meal.
Jackson
The trip down to Enől was quite uneventful; the reason being that it was so quick, since everybody wanted to get back to the minibus for clean fresh clothes and the hope of a wash! The wash was in sight as we got closer in the minibus to the lake at Enől, but our hopes were dashed by Fred, who again kindly reminded us that we couldn't use soap in the lake. Even so, spirits were high and we all enjoyed a refreshing swim. The braver more energetic and probably stupider ones of us also enjoyed jumping off a nearby mini-cliff into the deeper part of the lake. Mind you, once was quite enough for me! Respect though must go to Kai-fung, who managed to shout out 'aromatic crispy duck' in one of his six metre jumps.
Still in good spirits, we got back on the minibus or hitchhiked down to Cangas. Here we were issued with money and sent off to buy expedition food and supplies, as well as buying lunch. The tortilla and beer I had really hit the spot!
The moment we were waiting for rapidly approached as we got to a campsite on the other side of Cangas. Tents were pitched quickly, but again the shower was put off as we were made to clean our stoves. Finishing quickly, I like everybody else converged on the toilets and showers for a shave and heavenly shower.
Early evening soon arrived and as bellies started to rumble, we headed into Cangas for our large pre-expedition feast, which was fantastic. We all sat around and laughed and joked, helping George write his postcards that mandatorily had to contain the words 'Cojones' and 'Succulent'.
Filled with yet more tortilla and some of the pork chops which make up the local delicacies, we headed back to the campsite to check that we were ready for the following day, and more importantly, watch the World Cup Final! I needn't tell you the result (you should already know), but a good time was enjoyed by all, even myself and the other unfortunates who were supporting Brazil. Having begrudgingly watched the French lift the trophy, and beginning to feel the tiredness from the first few days, I joined my peers in finishing my beer and heading off for a good, long night's kip.
Jon
Go to the next page for the actual expedition report