Shelter - Refugio de Ocijo o Ocejo

Description

Access:
From the Valvanera monastery, take a track that climbs in a zigzag along the side of the mountain. We will see that the track crosses several times because the return will be done sometimes by path and other times by the track itself, but the climb is obviously always done by the track. After six kilometers of ascent with hard ramps in the intermediate section, we have a very short descent to the Bierzo pass. Now there is a climb of just over a kilometer but with very hard ramps, until we come to a crossroad. A sign points the directions to Viniegra, Ezcaray or Valvanera.


The route continues to the left, direction Viniegra de Abajo, while on the way back we will come by the other direction. However if we needed water, we have the source of Gold a few hundred meters to the right. Taking the track towards Viniegra we will arrive immediately at the Ocijo pass without hardly gaining altitude. In Ocijo there is a refuge that, although it belongs to the Forest Service, has an open room.

Starting point from Tobia

We will arrive to the town of Tobia accessing from the LR-432. We will pass the town and a long track that will go into a beech forest will take us to the area known as Rajao, a very famous picnic area in La Rioja. We will pass the refuge of the Rajao and a little later a sign prevents us from going further, there we will park.
We will start walking on the same track we came from. We walk through an area that has one of the best beech forests of La Rioja.

The track goes up little by little until it reaches a point where the Tobía valley ends and we must take a path on the right that goes into the beech forest (25 ').
The slope from this area becomes very strong. We will go up with the help of many milestones that mark the way forward.
After climbing a strong slope we will arrive at a quarry that although it is uncomfortable to walk is the best way to go out to the track that we are looking for.

Information thanks to:  refugioslibres.com