Close to Spain's northern coast, the Picos de Europa is a region of stunning steep-sided valleys, isolated villages and picturesque limestone peaks. This walking holiday made a west to east traverse passing through the Western and Central massifs, staying in mountain refuges for four of the seven nights. From Soto de Onis, 4 kilometers east of Cangas de Onis, we transferred by mini-bus to the Covadonga Lakes and on to Pan de Carmen, our starting point at approximately 1,100 m of elevation.

Hiking by way of the Vegarredonda Refuge we climbed to Mirador de Ordiales and to Pico Cotalba (2,026m).

From Refugio Vegarredonda we retraced our steps and reached the southern end of Lake Ercina, Fuente Las Reblagas, before passing through Las Bobias on the way to Vega de Ario, where we stayed at Refugio de Marques de Villaviciosa.

The plan was to descend the 1500 meter-deep Garganta del Cares, following the Shepherd's Path via Ostón and the Canal de Culiembro, a spectacular cliff-side path that is one of the great Picos walks. Unfortunately, due to a thunder storm with spectacular lightening strikes this was considered to be too dangerous, hence we retraced our way back to Lake Ercina and a taxi transfer to Poncebos.

The day's hike from Poncebos to Refuge Pico Urriellu involved some 2,000 meters of climbing; roughly half the group walked the first 400 m of climbing over two hours up the Canal de Tejo, whilst the other half opted for the funicular which covers the same height gain in eight minutes.

Over-nighting at a refuge beneath the awe-inspiring Naranjo de Bulnes peak, we continued the hike the next day across a lunar landscape to the superb viewpoint Collado Horcados Rojos, which involved some exposed scrambling. Cables are bolted to the rock face to assist with the scramble, but they have not been maintained due to a dispute between national and local government, and we were encouraged not to use them at all for safety. The climb to the summit of Torre de los Horcados Rojos (2,562m) meant and additional ascent/descent of 150 meters for those who chose to do it. From the Collado Horcados Rojos, a short descent and and even shorter ascent took us to the delightful Cabaña Veronica where we had lunch. An interesting traverse over an area of broken moraine took us down to Hotel-Refugio de Áliva, which had all the luxuries of a hotel rather than a refuge.

The final day saw us descending to Espinama, after first visiting Collado de Valdecoro and Pico de Valdecoro (1,836m).

Total

82.05

4,367

4,177