Hiking trail in northern Spain has all the elements of a sublime tableau

The Picos de Europa mountain range offers a picture-perfect trek for hikers that carries the echoes of the nation’s history

Hiking in the Los Picos de Europa national park. Photo: Simon Dubreuil

Brendan Daly

From the dormitory window of our mountain hut the breaking dawn is a symphony of colour – pumpkin, saffron and pale purple – blazing in the eastern sky. As the sun slowly emerges, it unfurls a salmon pink carpet across the limestone. That’s when I see it for the first time.

Looming behind our hut is Naranjo de Bulnes, a smooth, vertical wall of rock that rises defiantly to more than 500 metres. Naranjo de Bulnes isn’t the highest peak in these mountains, but it is the most recognisable.