GOING GREEN

Caroline Mills explores coastal villages and majestic peaks in Cantabria and Asturias on a trip through Green Spain

Vibrant blue trumpet-flowered gentians stood out from the landscape, challenged by yellow rock roses that clung to the sides of the mountain footpath, each cluster requiring closer inspection upon passing. Black alpine choughs flitted from rock to rock.

I was walking, but far more slowly than I had anticipated. Every few steps, I just had to stop to look at the rocks towering around, panda patches of snow cradled in the crevices of higher peaks.

I was simply astonished by the massive landscape of the Picos de Europa.

When I turned a corner, returning to the Fuente Dé gondola station, the mountainsides of the Camaleño Valley appeared like soft green suede.

Green Spain, so called because of its verdant nature, refers to the autonomous regions of the Basque Country, Cantabria, Asturias and Galicia in northern Spain, and includes the extraordinary Picos de Europa mountain range, a national park.

An important consideration for visitors here is that summer temperatures tend to be lower than the often unbearable heat further south.

Pueblos bonitos

My tour of Cantabria and Asturias began on the Cantabrian coast, at Santoña, 30 miles east of Santander. The town's architecture isn't that remarkable, but it's one of Spain's key fishing ports, renowned for preserving anchovies.

This is also a good starting point for exploring the sandy beaches in this part of Cantabria.

Travelling through the Natural Park of the Marshes of Santoña, Victoria and Joyel, I stopped at bird hides to watch wading waterfowl at the mouth of the River Asón. It's the first of many river creeks, often accompanied by a beach, that flow from the backdrop of green hills and mountains to the south into the Bay of Biscay.

Driving west, I paused at eight beaches, all with differing characteristics. Some, like Santoña, have an urban setting, others a wilder prospect.