Last weekend we made a small bicycle trip in Castilla y Leon. Spain is converting some old railway tracks in cycling and walking routes. Friends found a cottage (Casa Lavaderos) in Pineda de la Sierra, which is in the middle of the Via Verde de la Demanda. It is a nice village with the most essential installations: bar (at disposition), church (in renovation), telephone kiosk (not generally working), and letterbox (not proofed). Next supermarket about 40 km (some shops may be at 20 km), also next gas station about 40 km, but don’t expect 24 hour service.
The beautiful trail is based on an old mine train track (should say: it is not a boring flat route; additionally a tunnel is destroyed so the changed track leads of course above it). And in autumn it is nearly lonely (no only because of missing mobile phone coverage).
Furthermore the location serves to visit some interesting areas of Spain which are nearby: Burgos (cathedral), La Rioja (red wine, Tapas, especially in Logroño, and monasteries, e.g. Yuso y Suso).
The links here follows mainly to the English Wikipedia, but the Spanish one is naturally more complete (use there the cross links Español).
To get an impression about the region, the trail, and the village some images are included below. More photos are in the Gallery following one of the pictures below.
