If we go to the winter of the Texu, towards Aliva, we have to deviate a few meters before the entrance to the town of Sotres. Direction Aliva we go to Las Vegas del Toro or de Sotres, another corner of this particular arcade in which we will possibly find continuous herds of sheep. The valley of the Moñetas begins there. In this small winter, to the right, we take a little marked path that will take us to the lake. One more of the Asturian paradises.
If we continue Address Alivadown a wide track we will walk close to the dividing line between the autonomous communities of Asturias and Cantabria, between the Central or Urrieles massifs and the Oriental or Andara massifs. Hikers and SUVs now travel along this route, although in the past the traffic here was due to mining activities in the area. From the Vega de Sotres the track begins a slope and after about 700 m it crosses the Duje stream, which is known as Vao Jumiello, descends strongly and is a suitable place to eat empanadas, potato omelette sandwiches or whatever happens. Following the track about 2.000 m. a path starts to the left and after 1.500 m. you come to a hill where on the left/east you will find the Hermitage of the Virgen de las Nieves, from where you can see the Aliva Shelter and the lead and zinc mines of the Royal Asturian Mining Company. From there there is also an easy route to the beautiful district of Liébana, already in Cantabria.
From the town of Sotres we can also ascend to the Lake of the Moñetas, a friendly and close summit. To do this we will overcome a drop of 800 meters.
If it is not your idea to walk too much, we can choose hire the services of a 4 x 4 in the same Sotres, and sit in the back seat to contemplate the landscape.
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Text: © Ramón Molleda for asturias.com
