What a hell of a place!

The topography of this coastline is as dramatic as its name: Acantilados del Infierno translates as "Cliffs of Hell". This place is located in Asturias, just east of Ribadesella. A hiking trail, about 5.5 km one way, runs between the two trailheads at the Acantilados del Infierno, connecting the Área Recreativa de Guadamía near Cuerres to the Área Recreativa del Infierno, just 3 km from Ribadesella's town center. The coastal route is packed with natural wonders. It is a rugged landscape where limestone was sculptured by the sea, the rain, and the wind into jagged ridges, sinkholes, sheer vertical walls, and thunderous "bufones". These are natural blowholes located at considerable distance from the cliffs where seawater explodes skyward when the tide is high and the seas are stormy. You can catch a glimpse of the famous Bufones de Pría from the parking lot of the Área Recreativa de Guadamía. And there are also quite a few natural arches along the way - among them the one shown here as image of the month. Although it is large and very impressive, this "arco" is beyond the beaten path and it does not yet have an official name. So we like to call it "Ribadesella Arch".  

This month's image was made a year ago on May 10, 2024. A very VEEERY special day! We had been at the Acantilados del Infierno quite a few times and also at this arch, but we never had such a dramatic, fiery-red sunset. 
And ... sometimes things go really crazy and nature adds an extra surprise! That night, the sky bursted into color for a second time!  

We return to our holiday home after shooting sunset, but as soon as we saw the extrem solar wind parameters we headed outside again and pointed our cell phone to the north. The sky was completely red! OMG, in Asturias! We drove immediately the short way to the cliffs at Guadamía. By the time we arrived, there were pinkish beams dancing over the Cantabrian Sea. I knocked on the door of the only car at the parking lot - a once in a lifetime show not to be missed! And the two Spanish girls from the RV ended up being even more excited than us. They had never seen the northern lights and they had planned a trip to Iceland just to see them. But now the Aurora showed up for them at home.

We did not feel like being at the "Cliffs of Hell", this was more like "Heaven of Earth". And so there we were, the four of us going "loco" (crazy), celebrating the fireworks and dancing happily at the Área Recreativa de Guadamía. You will find a few cell phone images on our blog.
Did I mention that all of us we wearing pajamas already? Pajamas and wool hats - definitely a night to be remembered! ;-)

How can the northern lights show up in Spain? On that day, our planet was hit by extreme solar winds triggering a G5-level geomagnetic storm, the most powerful since the Halloween storms of 2003. The Kp-index reached the very top of the scale, the Hp30 was 11.333 between 10.30 and 11 PM UTC, and the Dst-index plummeted to -412 nT, indicating the exceptional disturbance of the Earth's magnetic field. The northern lights were pushed all the way down to Southern Europe painting the skies at extremely low latitudes. They became visible well beyond the usual limits - reaching Spain (including southern regions), Portugal, and even the Canary Islands.

There are three additional blogs in English about this trip to Spain featuring the Pena Furada at Acantilados de Loiba, the amazing beams through a secluded double Sea Arch in Asturias, and even more Sea Arches. 
And please feel free to check out the another image from Ribadesella Arch (taken just a couple of minutes earlier); and of course also all the other ones in our -> Northern Spain Galleries.

 
Image data: 3s at f/16, ISO 200; Canon RF 14-35 mm, f4 L IS USM at 14 mm at the Canon EOS R5