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Mountain biking amongst the olive trees in the Sierra de Guara. This is the best time of year to enjoy the olive groves in Guara and the surrounding area. Between October and December, the olives are harvested and later turned into the spectacular olive oil that you can sample in a restaurant in the Sierra de Guara or in your holiday apartment.
Guara, both in agricultural and administrative terms, belongs for the most part to the Somontano region, and here, as well as breathtaking natural scenery and top-quality wine, we have first-class olive oil. We’ll start cycling shortly, but first let me tell you that in the Somontano we have 20 different varieties of olive, some of them local – but so, so local that you can only find them in one or two villages in the mountains and nowhere else in the world. The routes I’m about to describe are covered in more detail in the links I’ve provided at the end of the article.
The ancient olive tree of Colungo
Cycling amongst olive trees
It’s hard to go cycling through the Sierra de Guara without passing, at some point, by estates with centuries-old olive trees surrounded by dry-stone walls. It’s estimated that there are around 3,800 hectares of olive groves across the Somontano region and its neighbouring areas, and today I’d like to suggest four mountain bike routes – plus a few extras – where the olive trees take centre stage.
We set off on the first of these mountain bike routes through olive groves, starting from Colungo. Colungo really is a magnificent starting point for enjoying the olive groves. As well as estates with centuries-old trees, it is home to the ‘Olivera de Nadal’, a unique and monumental tree with a trunk 13 metres in diameter and over 8 metres tall. On the route I suggest, we’ll stop off at Buera, which is perfectly preserved and open to visitors, to see an oil press dating from the 17th and 18th centuries.
The route itself runs entirely along tracks in very good condition; it falls just a few metres short of 19 kilometres and can be completed whilst enjoying the scenery, as there are no technical difficulties. As well as stopping, if we wish, at the Buera turn-off, there is another must-see stop at the Dulcis Sanctuary, just over 6 kilometres in. With all the attractions in the Buera area, we can extend the route as long as we like, but on a leisurely ride without stops, we’ll be cycling for around two hours, depending on each rider’s fitness level.
Santuario of Dulcis
Cycling to San Pelegrín
If you want to start leaving the excellent trails and try some singletrack, this is your route. San Pelegrín is a hamlet of Alquézar with 7 registered inhabitants. The route is almost entirely on a track in good condition and includes 3.5 kilometers of trails.
It will be just under 18 kilometers in total to connect Alquézar and Radiquero. It will be on the way to this last village, Radiquero, where we will encounter the olive groves and also almond trees, although it’s clear that at this time of year the olive tree dominates throughout Sierra de Guara.
Saint Pelgrin
To the Chapel of Treviño nestled amongst olive groves and vineyards
Olive groves and vineyards are the two main crops in this region, although we’ll also pass through the area along the banks of the River Vero, where you can see the vegetable gardens that produce, amongst other essential produce, the Barbastro pink tomato. But I’ll tell you about the tomatoes another day, as we’re right in the middle of the olive harvest.
For this route, which doesn’t reach 21 kilometers, we will depart from Adahuesca to reach Buera, where I mentioned in the first route that you have the option to visit the olive grove and the oil press. But there’s more, much more. On this route with only 1 kilometer of trail, we will reach the Romanesque-Gothic hermitage of Treviño, which dates from the 13th century. We won’t need to pedal too much because the hermitage is very close to Adahuesca, although we will continue on afterward.
In addition to the already mentioned attractions of Buera, we can cross the Albarda bridge, which dates from the 13th century, being one of the oldest in Guara and which also allows us to cross the Vero river. The route has a variant that could extend it to 35-40 kilometers including the foothills and Colungo-Buera loops.
Hermitage of Treviño
From Alquézar to Somontano… by road
I include this road route because it allows us to see the contrasts in the landscape and how it changes as we leave the mountains behind and head toward the plains. This is a long route that will allow us to fully immerse ourselves in Somontano, descending from the heights of Alquézar.
The route consists of a series of ups and downs, so it’s never all uphill or all downhill. It involves covering almost 60 kilometers, all on roads, passing through Radiquero, Adahuesca, Alberuela de Laliena, Bierge, Abiego, Lascellas until reaching Peraltilla, the lowest point of the route.
We will observe how the landscape changes as we advance until the road tends upward again, heading back toward Alquézar but now passing through Azara and Azlor and again through Abiego and Adahuesca before reaching the destination, which is also the starting point. The crops begin predominantly as olive groves, almond trees, and vineyards, gradually giving way to areas with a greater presence of cereal crops.
Alquézar
Why not come along? And be sure to let us know how it went, of course. Remember to use the hashtag #ViveGuara so we can see and read your posts.
LINKS:
Route 1. Colungo- Buera. https://bguara.com/ruta/rally/colungo-buera/
ROUTE 2. San Pelegrín. https://bguara.com/ruta/rally/san-pelegrin/
ROUTE 3. Ruta de Treviño. https://bguara.com/ruta/rally/ruta-de-trevino/
ROUTE 4. Alquézar por el Somontano en bici de carretera. https://bguara.com/ruta/carretera/circular-desde-alquezar-por-el-somontano/
