The best traffic-free bike rides around San Pedro Manrique

After the tough climb, we have beautiful views of both valleys

Montenegro de Ágreda is a town belonging to the municipality of Matalebreras, in the province of Soria, region of Moncayo, in the community of Castilla y León. It stands out for the church of Nuestra Señora de la Blanca, a proto-Gothic fortified church from the 13th century that took advantage of the structure of an old Berber tower in its construction.

Matalebreras is a municipality in the province of Soria, in the Moncayo region, in the community of Castilla y León. It was established as a constitutional municipality with the name of Matalebrera, with 90 homes and 269 neighbors in 1842. Of its heritage, the Gothic church of San Pedro Apóstol from the 18th century stands out, although it preserves a chapel and the nave from the 16th century. Another unique building is the Mozarabic tower, today in ruins, in addition to three emblazoned houses from the 17th-18th centuries, one of them belonging to the Marquis of Velamazán.

In Montenegro de Ágreda, the ancient fortified church of Nuestra Señora de la Blanca remains standing, built at the end of the 12th century, attached to a Berber defensive tower, from the 10th century. Another jewel of the Romanesque style that spread throughout the medieval border lands .

In Pozalmuro we find the bar closed, we have little to do and a storm is also threatening, we fill the kettles with water and begin the ascent of the Sierra del Madero, the mountain pass of the day to jump the Iberian System and cross the Duero basin to the great valley of the Ebro. The climb is a cycle path with quite a slope, it has some studs to avoid the destruction of runoff and maintain the quality of the surface but they require extra effort on each step. The hard slope ends at an extraordinary viewpoint with signs of the landscape, the views are magnificent. Moncayo (2,314 m) is an imposing mass, the roof of the Soria mountains and the highest peak of the Iberian System. We follow the milestones of the natural path down a descent with a couple of delicate curves for the gravel wheels on the loose stone and then a well-conditioned and fun path in a holm oak forest of great environmental quality. The sky turns into hell and we arrive at the town of Muro when the raindrops turn into hail balls, luckily the bar is open here. In Muro is the site of the Roman city of Augustóbriga and in the bar room they have posters highlighting the notoriety of the place. The Roman town was decisive in the Roman conquest and control of the towns that lived in the mountain slopes of Moncayo. The bad weather is persistent and we decided to finish the stage in Ágreda, an interesting town of three cultures on the slopes of Moncayo. At Hostal Doña Juana they are welcoming and kind to cyclists, even when they arrive soaked and their bikes are muddy. Before dinner there is time to see more towers, palaces, convents, stately homes and stroll through the Moorish quarter, passing through medieval gates with original battlements or in the shape of a horseshoe arch, such as the Puerta del Agua, from the 8th century, the oldest construction of the architectural heritage of Ágreda.

It is worth catching your breath while admiring Moncayo... and surroundings

Drinking water source. It will be good for us to face the climb... although I would not miss visiting the bar in town

Currently uninhabited, Masegoso has a Berber tower from the 10th century and a beautiful Roman fountain.