From Tuiza de Arriba to Refugio del Meicin and back

🏚 I still can't believe that we only recently heard about the Refugio del Meicin! Last week, the weather on Saturday looked promising and we decided to finally go there. And... it was wonderful!

🚙 Thus far, we mainly explored the western part of the natural park Las Ubiñas - La Mesa during our hikes and bicycle trips. Now we took a different road and drove about an hour from Oviedo to the southwestern part of Las Ubiñas - La Mesa. The road to the hamlet of Tuiza de Arriba is curvy, but the views along the last part of the route are already breathtaking! In Tuiza de Arriba (at 1230 m) is a large parking lot. If it's full (like on a sunny autumn day like this), you can park your car a bit earlier, down the road. The route starts right behind the bar next to the parking lot.

🧭 There are two variants that you can take from here: the Senda del Verano (the summer way) or the Senda del Invierno (the winter way). We choose to take the Senda del Invierno first and walk back via the Senda del Verano. The winter route, however, is not as clearly indicated as the summer route, so it's good to have a GPS or have the route uploaded on your phone. Do try this at home, as there's no phone signal in the mountains!

🐑 The way to the Refugio (mountain hut) is 2.5 km (one-way) and it rises almost continuously - in total 350 meters. If you take it easy, it's doable for kids of almost all ages (we took our 3-years old, and she walked all the way up herself). What certainly kept our kids motivated are the many animals we encountered along the way: cows, sheep, donkeys, horses and mules. Most of them are very tame and let themselves be touched; great for the kids! Time seems to have stood still here: people from the village come up with their horses to round up the cattle and transport goods back and forth. Really unique!

🏞 After about 1.5 hours, we reached the Refugio, located at 1560m altitude, where you can have a drink and meal. There's a really nice ambient with people from all ages and levels gathering around. From the mountains surrounding the valley, you see hikers and mountaineers descending. The bravest ones might just have come back from ascending the Pena Ubina, which with its 2417m overlooks the valley.

😴 After spending a nice 2 hours at the terrace of the Refugio, we walked back via the Senda del Verano; it took us an hour to arrive at Tuiza de Arriba again. However, you can also sleep in the Refugio: there's 42 places in bunkbeds. For 40 EUR p.p. you can stay there for one night, breakfast and dinner included. It's a great way to do multiple hikes in the surrounding area and really disconnected and recharge.

📹 The people in charge of the Refugio are very active on Facebook (Refugio del Meicin). With their inspiring short videos, they show the life in and around the place they love. Very nice to watch (and practice your Spanish 😊).