-
Somo, Hawai reaches Cantabria
To catch the perfect wave, the trick lies in waiting, in rowing while the wave comes in. The sea provides. The wind and the breeze give the balance. Just you, Somo and the sea foam. The Mecca of surfing in Cantabria. There is a Hawai in Spain. Somo, a village of Ribamontán al Mar (Cantabria), has become a reference for wave riders from Spain and elsewhere. This beach of the Ribamontán del Sur (Cantabria) region has earned its fame for crests. Every year, hundreds of surfers come to this small coastal village to face a Cantábrico sea that was thought indomitable. The no more than 2,000 people who live in the place have lea -
Surfing Spain: Zarautz and Mundaka
There is a time of uncertainty in the seas that all surfers know very well. Each wave decides on its own fate and there is no science that says whether this enormous tongue of water rising up before the sportsman will reach the right height and power to send them on a good run. The wave chooses the person who will accompany it and the surfer has to be patient and wait for right one. The art of surfing, a thrilling sport born in Hawaii over 500 years ago and which is devoutly practised on the Cantabrian coastline. Zarautz and Mundaka beaches in the Basque country are two top spots that receive surfers from all around the world attracted by the fury of an imposing sea.& -
-
-
-
-
-
-
Canyoning in the Escuaín gully
Canyoning is an adventure sport done in the canyons or gullies of a river. The first place where the sport was done in Spain was the Escuaín gully, in Aragon, and the first person who did it was the Frenchman Lucien Briet in 1903. In his book of memoirs, this precursor from beyond the Pyrenees describes the beauty of the gully as “a formidable joint (fracture in the rocks) open in the mountains and worthy of serious study by those who have followed the canyons of some rivers”. This sport, with no more rules than safety above all, consists of descending the head of a river, normally walking with water up to your ankles and finding falls on the w -
Deportes al aire libre en Asturias
-
Leaping from pine to pine
You can choose to feel like Tarzan or Cheetah, or like neither of them, but be sure that for a few hours the trees will become your vital space. The airborne circuits are a kind of leisure park in which our feet will not touch the ground. Quite the contrary, they will walk several metres above the ground, leaping from tree to tree. This new kind of park can be found in different places in Spain and the common denominator of all of them is that they all happen around the tops of woodland trees. Trailing branches, hanging bridges, walkways and lots of ropes from one tree to another set out the map of these leisure areas we can find in Sopuerta (Vizcaya region), Barcelona, Gir -
-
-
-
-
Slow trekking along the banks of the river Asón
The serenity of Cantabria along the north coast of Spain finds its centre in the Concejo de Soba (a group of 27 villages). It all starts with a waterfall, the waterfall on the river Asón. It is here where the river flow gets carried away and becomes white waters. Upstream, the conscious peacefulness of the place is overwhelmed with historical beauty, no rushing is allowed here. The path opens up to a relaxing stroll into the past. The waterfall, with a fall of 70 m, seems to have wanted to lift itself in order not to be unnoticed to anyone coming along the CA-265 highway. Here its waters emerge from the land after filtering in the natural lakes of the Coll -
-
-
-
-
Kitesurf with Africa on the horizon
It is hard to describe the feeling of freedom you have when you kitesurf. Your only concern is to let the air push you over the water in search of perfect equilibrium. The waves become small ramps for jumping, the sea is an interminable pool that lets you fly. In the time I am moving on the water I lose the notion of time, the only thing important to me is to remain on my feet. My mind resets. My annual visit to Tarifa to do this sport is in fact a pilgrimage. This small town in the province of Cádiz, located at the southernmost point of Europe, never lets you down. The wind blows all year round, the unending beaches and dunes are spectacular and on the horizon you can see t -
-
-
-
Sledges are for summer too
In villages of the lower Pyrenees, such as Murillo de Gállego on the frontier between Zaragoza and Huesca, sledges are no longer exclusively for the winter. In fact it is in spring and summer when they are used most. Of course, the sledges we refer to are water sledges, not used to slide over the snow but rather to go down the rapids of the river Gállego. This is what is known as riverboarding. A neoprene suit, a helmet and some fins on your feet complete the equipment, although they are not the only requirements for doing this sport, and whoever wants to do it will have to be in good shape and know how to swim. A short course for getting a few basic notions a