An introduction to southern Cantabria

This blog is published by John and Kate Daly. We have lived in Cantabria for nearly fifteen years and have produced three walking guides to the region. Some of the walking routes are referenced on the different pages of this blog. You can find links to our walking books on our parallel blog,  Cantabria Calling .

Leaving Santander and following the A67 south, after twenty-five kilometres you come to Torrelavega; a town busy with commerce and industry, the narrow streets of its old town filled with a vibrant, diverse community going about their daily lives. The motorway continues south, passing signs for spa resorts, pre-historic caves, the Saja-Besaya Natural Park, with rolling hills to the east and  the snow-topped mountains of the Cordillera Cantábrica to the south-west until eventually, some fifty kilometres beyond Torrelavega, you arrive at Reinosa.

The town is located at 855m (2,800ft) above sea level and is surrounded by the rivers Ebro, Hijar and Izarilla. Here you are on the edge of the Spanish meseta. Cantabria’s ski resort, Alto Campoo, lies twenty-five kilometres to the west while to the east the landscape is dominated by the extensive waters of Lake Ebro.

Our journey through this blog will take you along the northern and southern shores of Lake Ebro, discovering its history and geography along the way; you can explore Valderredible, renowned for its rock churches and necropolises; appreciate abundant wildlife and contrasting terrains; gaze at a star-filled sky from one of Spain’s principal observatories; picnic alongside the waters of River Ebro, with storks nesting overhead; visit graceful churches and former monasteries; you may choose to venture into the interior, south of Lake Ebro, and wander among the region’s abandoned villages; step back in time to a Roman settlement; or be enlightened and entertained at one of the area’s many museums and Information Centres.

Southern Cantabria is an area often overlooked in guide books or only enjoyed from the inside of a car, coach or train. Here, on the other hand we aim to show that it has much to offer the serious historian, keen star gazer, cyclists, walkers and ramblers, wildlife enthusiasts as well as the casual tourist and holidaymaker.