A Bikepacking Route Through Spain Few Choose

We've been talking about this trip for a while now, exploring this quiet corner of Spain that has been calling to us for a long time. And then suddenly the timing felt right. No big plan and no schedule, just a spontaneous decision to finally go. We are following a route created by Ernesto Pastor and his two local friends, named of resilience and hope. With the bikes ready, we turn off the main road into the Giloca Valley. Wide, quiet and where the past still feels present in the landscape. We are about 20 minutes in or so, riding in between the farmlands. One of the first things that I notice is the quietness. So there's just a little breeze, but there's not any sound of traffic. It's wide open spaces here and what really stands out is these big, big sheds over there. That's for animal husbandry. It's a really, really intense smell when you cycle past. But yeah, they're everywhere here. The sun is almost setting and yeah, we just had a short day, only 15 kilometers or so. And we found a nice and hidden camp spot here. It's quiet, peaceful and the views are just gorgeous. So yeah, we will see you tomorrow. Hey, good morning. We're now leaving the big open valley behind us and we're going in between the hills over here. It's a backcountry loop with some really cool, interesting features that we're going to check out a little later on. And now we're going to first find a place for breakfast because we're already hungry. Still pretty early, but the tummies are rumbling. It's early in the morning still. I love this time of the day. Always gives me such a sense of excitement. Who are the people you're going to meet? What things you will encounter? It's just the best time of the day to ride your bike. Really nice, a rough track. I wish there weren't so many flies though, because they won't crawl in your nose and into your mouth. It's a good practice of resilience. So I took a wrong turn and I lost Eric. There's so many of these farmways. It's quite easy to take a wrong turn and I just forgot to look at the map at like a crossroads. It looked like the normal way was just going forward. So I just took it, but I cannot find him anywhere. I think I'm seeing tire tracks here on the ground. Fresh tire tracks, but I'm not sure. I think it's about 45 minutes later. Still no coffee yet, so it's getting time. What did you do? I just, there was one road that just made logical sense to go forward. So I did that and it turned out it wasn't the right track. And there's so many tracks here. Man, these flies are really taking away the enjoyment. Otherwise it's a nice area, nice scenery, but it's hard to enjoy it with all these flies around your head. Feeling really quite remote here. I think the last hour we didn't see any other human vehicle or like a house or anything. Only a ruins and these agricultural fields. We're in the middle of it, especially now, of course, because the harvest is already done and all the fields are ploughed here. They're ready for the winter. It is August now and the heat is relentless. We make sure to top up our water whenever we can and take long breaks in the shade. Leaving the Giloka Basin, we ride west towards Laguna Gallocanta, the largest natural salt lake on the Iberian Peninsula. We're now cycling past Laguna de Gallocante and this is a really beautiful area. It's really significant as well because this water in the winter is a sanctuary for cranes in their migration. Really, really important place for the ecology. This vast area is just like really, really open and there is no river system going out. So all water stays here in this place. Fantastic place and I'm gonna thoroughly enjoy cycling around it. What a beautiful morning. The sun just came up behind the horizon. It's lovely. This is one of the most sparsely populated parts of Spain and the air is exceptionally clean here. Untouched by cities or industry. In autumn, tens of thousands of cranes stop on their migration from northern Europe to Africa. Farmers receive a commission to leave crops like sunflowers for the birds to feed on before they continue south. It's a bit of a sad sight but now that you know that it's for the cranes, it's actually super interesting. We just learned that the reason why the drought brings so many flies is that the manure is spread over the fields and because there's not enough precipitation, the fertilizer cannot sink into the ground. They lay their eggs and then you have this explosion of flies which is really, really, really intense. Yeah, we're looking at the map now to see if we can find some place to get some food. Actually, it's really difficult here in these smaller villages. These little small shops are closing permanently, so also in this little village the shop is gone. We have to find some food because for the next coming days we don't have a lot and it's going to be really sparsely populated here. It is hot today. I think around 35 degrees celsius. There are some clouds forming, so really happy with the clouds. Just in a village a while back we found one bread and four apples, so good with the food situation for today. And it's so empty and so silent here. I'm really enjoying it. Landscapes are fantastic. Somebody had fun. Such fun to tinker around and make these kind of sculptures. So he's using a lot of recycled metal, all kinds of different things. I've seen knives, wheels, electrical cables. So he's probably recycling stuff from around the area and making them into these sculptures. I think that's really cool to see that the things that perhaps get left over here, just to recycle it and decorate the landscape. Yeah, I think it's really cool. We follow the old tracks of the Villa Verde de Ojos Negros. Once part of a mining company that sustained entire communities across the region, carrying iron ore from the mountains to the coast. Today it's one of Spain's longest greenways, winding through quiet villages in the plains of Aragon, all the way to the Mediterranean. Along the route stands the castle of Perasense, carved from red sandstone. From there the route drops back down into the Geluca valley, where we ride on into the evening, searching for a place to camp. Look at that valley that we came from yesterday. It's completely covered with fog. If we would have stayed there, then we would be completely unaware that it's bright and sunny out here. Luckily it is. It's pretty chilly still, so we have about 300 meters climb here on this gravel road behind me. Yesterday we found a supermarket. Super happy. So I have my chocolate fix and we have some fresh fruits. Coffee even. Can't do without coffee. Can't do without chocolate. I'm a happy girl. Let's do it. You had a thing about the word chocolate, right? Yeah, the word chocolate just... Who invented this word? It already sounds so delicious. Chocolate. It's 70% chocolate. Not my favorite. It's a bit milky. I'm more the pure kind. Well, it's the spot though. And Eric is also always really happy when I find my chocolate. Really enjoyable, this route here on the foothills above the valley and easy cycling as well. And what we found here is really cool. It looks like a kind of a refugio here. There's some benches here outside. We can sit in the shade a little bit and relax. This is what everybody wants to see. We're gonna edit this in for sure. We should have a worry that everyone is after my man now. Yeah, these greasy legs. Somebody put his old shirt here on this cable. Pretty good chance that they're in full hunting season right now. Yeah, we had quite some almost hunting incidents in the past. People shooting guns like really really close. So we're gonna track back and then we're gonna pick up the route a little bit later on. Back in the flats. We lost all the height meters from yesterday and today, which is a bit of a shame. But on the other hand, better safe than sorry. Yeah, we just don't want to risk it. We head north again to visit one of the most remarkable sites along the route. Here among the hills lie the remains of trenches from the Spanish Civil War. It's a quiet place now, but it's easy to feel the weight of history. Giving us a glimpse of what life might have been like in those turbulent times. From what I understand, and I'm not sure if I have everything right, these trenches here they are called los pilones and they were used as a defensive position during the Spanish Civil War. I'm trying to imagine what it would be like to be here with your buddies in this sort of fortification. Probably you have to be at your station guarding the view. Yeah, it must be like a really harsh place. These trenches were actually part of a bigger front line to control the access of this Giloca valley that we rode through. This is of course a very strategic valley that both sides want to gain access to because they can move supplies and they can move troops. I can imagine also from time to time there must be air raids like planes flying over, perhaps dropping bombs. There's not a lot of space for shelter here. There are a few small bunker places, probably for ammunition and also for food and water, but there's just not a lot of place to just hide away. This was also part of a bigger battle to control the city of Teruel. Whoever controls the city controls the broader region. I can imagine this is a waiting game. You're here all day long waiting for something to happen. You're sitting here smoking cigarettes, perhaps overlooking the landscape to spot the enemy. If you do, you report so action can take place. So the Giloca valley was very important because it acted as a natural corridor to prevent troops from entering Teruel. I can imagine there also must have been an encampment with tents that held provisions, perhaps even animals for milk and meat. Even above here, above the trenches, a construction with wood and over that they could make a tent cloth for protection against the rain and snow. Little fires going on every now and then just to stay warm and perhaps there is even a soup going so you can have a bite to eat, a piece of bread to get your energy for the day. Must be really, really dreary long days. Yeah, it's a kind of hard to process.