Extremadura – Spain’s hidden treasure
- ann26154
- 1 day ago
- 8 min read
A cycling trip to a remote region in Central Spain turned out to be one of the most unexpectedly beautiful and interesting cycling adventures I have experienced in my many travels. Extremadura – a region where you can feel at one with nature, sometimes so much that you feel you are the first ones to discover this extraordinary rustic and natural landscape.
243km over 5 days and 3,347 metres of cycling with wonderful friends, so many amazing experiences, each day delivering new delights. Extremadura - natural environments, striking geological features, historic villages and towns, stunning climbs and mountain passes, pine and oak forests and woodland, friendly locals and a sense of complete peace and connection to this remarkable region of Spain.
Day1 – Caceres to Trujillo
Check out my route and more pictures on Komoot - https://www.komoot.com/tour/2842944274
After a 3 hour train journey west from Madrid we start in Caceres, a stunning UNESCO World Heritage city renowned for its exceptionally preserved medieval and Renaissance old town, often featured in films like Game of Thrones. Some beautiful attractions include the 12th-century Moorish walls, Plaza Mayor, the Co-Cathedral of Santa Maria, Plaza de San Jorge and a Moorish cistern located under the Caceres Museum – built between 9th and 11th centuries and is one of the best preserved water tanks on the Iberian Peninsula. Surreal.
Our first day of cycling begins with the collection of our hire bikes at the Galp petrol station on the side of the motorway. Very friendly service from Manuel organised through https://biketourinspain.com/ as we adjust our aluminium hybrid touring bikes ready for the roads and hills ahead.
Our first couple of hours of cycling we traverse a nearly treeless bucolic agricultural landscape. We cycle initially along next to the motorway but then on disused roads, very quiet, easy cycling – rolling roads. Griffon vultures are a common sight, as are many shrubs and retama brooms. A feature of this trip we experienced on our first day – is so much bird song. In fact, Extremadura is known as a premier destination for bird lovers – another feature today and for all our trip is how untouched it feels, a quiet natural landscape. The landscape is known for its ‘dehesas’, livestock farms but not like we know them! Where the livestock, pigs, sheep, cows roam freely amongst the shrubs and trees – as part of a agricultural form of conservation of the natural environment.
The road passes through the natural geology of the region, huge granite boulders as we approach the old magnificent walled town of Trujillo perched on the top of the hill. Again used as a filming location and you can definitely see why.
We cycle through the narrow cobblestoned streets to our hotel - a lovely old parador which used to be a convent. Trujillo is another historic city renowned as the cradle of 16th-century conquistadors. Centred around a stunning Plaza Mayor, it features a medieval castle, churches, and manor houses, placing it on the "Route of the Conquistadors”. We explore the 9th century castle and walk along the walls taking in the history of the town and the castle while taking in the views of the region and the hills in the distance. A very special experience and one of the best preserved castle forts I have seen.
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Day 2 – Trujillo to Berzocana
Check out my route and more pictures on Komoot - https://www.komoot.com/tour/2844596483
A stunning day of cycling - nature is all around us. This style of agriculture feels as though livestock and nature scenically coexist in harmony. Its hard to describe how peaceful it is as you cycle along it’s so quiet and the only sounds you can hear that of birdsong.
We have 2 distinct stages of the ride today - first stage is an undulating steppe which is also a bird nature reserve, alongside fields now dominated by solar panels.
After passing through the small village of Aldeacentenera, we take a steep climb up into the more mountainous stage of the ride - mountains as far as the eye can see - the Sierras de Extremadura. More of the dehesas interposed with holme oaks and the granite boulders scattered across the countryside.
This is an Idyllic landscape with the sheep & Iberian pigs freely wandering under the oaks & boulders, quiet roads snaking through the area.
While it feels very wild & remote it is actually just in a sparsely populated region. We climb up to our next stop, Berzocana a small hilltop village with only 496 population! But a wonderful night in Casa Rural with friendly owner. We feel like we are experiencing something very special.
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L-R landscapes of the day / approaching the village of Berzocana - nestled in the hills | |
Day 3 – Berzocana to Guadalupe
Check out my route and more pictures on Komoot - https://www.komoot.com/tour/2846105246
This is one of more challenging days on the ride. But it is worth it! We climb out of Berzocana and ascend the Collado del Mazo – several miles of climbing before reaching the summit - a mountain pass at 1040 metres above sea level. The views here are something else again. Steep rocky forested slopes – we are now in the Sierra de Guadalupe mountain range and for the first time see a few other cyclists.
After this incredible climb we continue through this stunning mountain pass for several miles, before we start the Pico villuercas climb!! This is a Vuelta stage climb and well – its pretty tough. The average gradient over the 2 miles and 1318 feet! is 13%, but that is just the average and we reach a highest gradient of 22%. It is safe to say, this climb mainly involved pushing our heavy touring bikes. But we enjoyed the challenge, the views were magnificent as we enjoyed them on our various stops up the hill, reaching the highest altitude on our trip at 1416 metres above sea level.
I didn’t quite feel like the pros ascending this Vuelta stage finish, but I like the fact that we did it regardless, and a lovely sense of satisfaction with a different type of challenge.
Of course what goes up, must come down!! This was fun! Miles and miles of descent now to yet ANOTHER UNESCO historic site – this time the village of Guadalupe- famous for the appearance of Our Lady the Virgin in the 13th century and which has now become a famous pilgrimage site with its a UNESCO world Heritage monastery. We stay in another beautiful parador, in an historic old former school of medicine with impressive views over the monastery.
The Holy Virgin of Guadalupe has been adopted as protector for the whole Spanish world, including South America. We visit the historic square and the Church of Santa Maria.
An evening of wine, cheese and local food tasting at local venue – Dalboroque. Bought some local olive oil to take home and enjoy. What a wonderful way to literally taste the delights of Extremadura.
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Day 4 – Guadalupe to Navatrasierra
Check out my route and more pictures on Komoot - https://www.komoot.com/tour/2847265031
Well, what does down, must go up again!!
Steep climb out of Guadalupe before we ride along a very pretty road through woodland. Feels as though we’re cycling through a valley with the ridge of Sierras de Guadalope to our left. Once again, the roads are extremely quiet.
Then we enter a woodland area for yet another climb, this one is 6 miles through a pine forest. Not just pines, but more oak including holme and cork oak. Absolutely idyllic.
I can’t explain how each day has bought something quite different in terms of cycling, even though we have had lots of climbing, each experience feels unique.
There is a Camino de Guadalupe and we pass many road markers highlighting the way, but we do not see any pilgrims.
As we descend after our summit at 1094 metres, we turn a corner to be confronted with yet another new vista - the Sierra des Gredos – an impressive snow capped mountain range in the distance! We really have seen it all on this trip.
We continue to our stop, another quiet village – Navatrasierra and a stay at a lovely little ‘casa’ with friendly owner, Ernesto.
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Day 5 – Navatrasierra to Talavera de la Reina
Check out my route and more pictures on Komoot - https://www.komoot.com/tour/2848866476
Of course, once again our day begins with a climb. Straight out of Navatrasierra until we reach the shrine at the top of the hill for the Camino Guadalupe. Over the next mountain ridge where we can still see the snowscapes of des Gredos in the distance.
Today’s ride brings even more diversity, as after a coffee stop at Carrascalejo we ride on an off road trail through the countryside for several miles before joining an undulating single track road – and of course, more climbing. Our landscape today is rocky with granite boulders – we cross a tranquil river with crystal clear waters as slowly leave the sierras behind us traversing the Parque Nacional de Monfragüe.
Not long before we reach an old railway track called the Via Verde – a lovely gravel (flat) trail carved through rocks. We cycle along the river Tagus and over an viaduct – it feels just so completely unspoilt here. In 5 days we’ve come across less than half a dozen fellow travellers, that feeling that this region of Extremadura is completely yours to explore and discover.
The final 20 miles of our journey are either on off road trails or roads in poor condition and a completely flat section of around 5 miles alongside fields.
We then have a mild feeling of surprise as we reach the most populous place we have seen in days, Talavera de la Reina. It feels odd seeing so many people after spending so much time in quiet, non populous areas, with the sense we were the only travellers around.
A fabulous local restaurant in Talaverna with amazing tapas, for our final night of the trip – celebrating our achievement with wonderful Spanish cava.
We take the train back to Madrid the next day. Read on for my reflections on our adventure.
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Ann's Reflections
We cycled 243km and 3347 metres (10,980 feet) over 5 days. The distance may not have been huge, but all the climbing has been awesome, and it has been so diverse, with each day bringing new sights, sounds and experiences.
The most amazing thing for me, is I had never heard of Extremadura before we booked this trip, and mostly no one I knew had either, but talk about a HIDDEN GEM. All 4 of us agreed it exceeded our expectations in every way.
Natural environments, striking geological features, historic villages and towns, stunning climbs and mountain passes, fabulous road surfaces on quiet roads, idyllic pine and oak forests and woodland, friendly locals and a sense of complete peace and connection to the region, to nature and to Extremadura.
10 out of 10. Go!
