The best traffic-free bike rides around Duruelo De La Sierra

Stage 2. Duruelo de la Sierra/Soria 69 kilometers. 510 meters of elevation gain. Duruelo has hotels, restaurants, and grocery stores. It is the town where the Duero River originates at the foot of the Urbión Peaks. The Senda del Duero Nature Trail begins at Fuentes del Duero, where the river officially originates, at an altitude of 2,100 meters, a landscape of crushed granite shaped by the fierceness of the high mountains. The route leaves the town along the Senda del Duero. The posts are located at a cattle gate, and there are hiking and mountain bike trail signs in several directions. The path is also marked with the red and white stripes of the GR-14 trail. It crosses a small, inconspicuous slope on a grassy slope and descends some steps to the fantastic path that runs along the riverbank—the perfect way to start this cycle tour. The river path is about seven kilometers long, with the tricky sections at the end, where rain and flooding have stripped the road bare, requiring careful adjustment to squeeze gravel tires between the stones. There's also a short stretch of stairs that isn't suitable for cycling. The path passes over the Soria Bridge (17th century) and climbs the slopes of Mount Peña Rubia, far from the river. It's the longest and steepest climb of the cycling day. The end is impossible; the path is ridden with roots and rills from runoff, but it only takes a few minutes. Soon, the forest track appears, descending at full speed to Molinos de Duero, another iconic village of pine-forest architecture with its May pine tree in the square and a landmark for road cycling. The red markers of the Duero Path pass under the road and continue toward Vinuesa along the route of an ancient Roman road, which is quite difficult for gravel bikes due to the poor condition of the surface. The comfortable option for bicycles with panniers is the road. Vinuesa is a good place to grab a snack, a section of a branch of the Cañada Real Segoviana (Royal Segovian Trail) that reaches from the Cameros region of Rioja via the Puerto de Santa Inés. The pines of the Revinuesa Valley are magnificent; they have always been renowned for their high-quality wood and their proud, solemn bearing. For centuries, they have shaped the economic pulse of forest resources in the Pinares region.

San Leonardo de Yagüe Km 61. Altitude 1,060. The Greenways and Nature Trails networks restore old railway lines from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when engineers marked the placement of rails following the terrain and elevations, avoiding steep slopes, something unthinkable in today's railway designs. The railway weaves through the mountain pine forests and passes far from Navaleno; even the old station is off the route, although it appears to be undergoing restoration. In San Leonardo de Yagüe, however, a cinematic curiosity of the railway remains visible. Before reaching the town, the rails that were the setting for a sequence in the film Doctor Zhivago appear, where Zhivago meets Strelnikov. This scene is set with photos from the film and the famous Mikado locomotive, an interesting location for classic film lovers. The town is a fine example of the region's pine architecture. It has stately homes, remains of a 16th-century castle, and the town square features a pine tree raised during the "pingada de mayo" (May Pingada), a popular festival held by local youths who select a large pine tree from the forest and hoist it (pingan) using wooden forks and ropes until the trunk is positioned vertically in the town square. The descent to Hontoria del Pinar is fast; the bike can reach 30 kilometers per hour without applying pressure on the pedals. It's a delightful stretch in the kingdom of the pine forest. The current development of the Nature Trail ends at the entrance to the town, near the Lobos River. It looks like the end of the road, but it's actually a break in the signage work to Cascajares del Campo. These will soon be completed, and the trail will continue to the Engaña Tunnel, in the Cantabrian Mountains. In Hontoria, I have prepared a connecting section to Duruelo de la Sierra to return to Soria along the Senda del Duero. The trail is fairly simple and obvious, following the forest trails of the pine forests. It climbs up the Palacios de la Sierra road and crosses the mountain range to pass by the Presón Refuge and the Castroverde Refuge, in case anyone prefers to spend the night in the pine forest. The climb to the Balcón de Pilatos has some rather steep slopes at the end of the stage through the Umbría mountain range. It's the last warm-up before a comforting descent along the Duruelo de la Sierra road.

A curious large stone, it moves but cannot be dragged.

Nice area for outdoor activities.

Nice area for outdoor activities.

A very nice route

In one of the many visits to Covaleda, which I usually go to, I have visited this beautiful place and I contribute photos

Highly recommended