Its a fairly robust walk – probably – strictly speaking doable for strong ten year olds and above.

You can access several different routes from the car park – Aparcamiento de Puerto de Cotos – an hour’s drive from Madrid. You can also get a train out to Los Cotos – a Cercanilla train from Chamartin in central Madrid.

From the car park you cross the road – and there’s a path up to a visitor centre – and various maps which outline several possible routes up to the peak.

Looks can be deceptive – once you’re up on the ridge and this can take an hour or two – the top of Peñalara always looks like its with twenty minutes walk – but the further you move towards the top the further away it seems to get. This is partly because the true peak is hidden from view most of the time, and more of it comes into view the further you get towards it.

Still its a great walk – lower down the forests and ferns are heaving with butterflies, bees and hornets. You feel a bit like Snow White surrounded by so much play.

Beware – big sturdy cows with horns sometimes occupy the paths – I, personally do all I can to avoid them – but more seasoned mountaineers walk past them with no trouble. The cows are more interested in foraging and don’t seem most of the time to be bothered by humans walking close to them.