Fuenfría Valley and Marichiva Pass MTB Loop

A very difficult and complex route with areas of great difficulty that should be avoided and alternatives should be sought. Problematic areas: When arriving at Cercedilla, a roundabout tells us to continue along the Puricelli path. This path is a Roman road that goes up more or less well, but there are areas with a significant gradient (15% upwards) with blocks, loose stones and roots that will force us to walk over them. Further on, we continue along the old Segovia path, which is a mountain path and, due to the great gradient and the abruptness of the terrain, we will have to carry the bike in many sections. On this path, and to go down to the pastures, we have a detour to the right in a place where there is a cross on a tree (Km 15.3 approx.) and we go down directly. I have always taken it when I go hiking. But the route makes us suffer along the old road to Segovia, basically walking to a detour which is a narrow, very steep path full of weeds where we have to walk down and jump a fence with the bike on our backs to get to the same place, this is a big mistake on the route. From here the Carretera de la República and the Camino del Infante are a joy. At the Marichiva hill you have to cross a gate where it says cycling is prohibited in this area, but there is no other and we must continue along the path to the ford of the goats reservoir which is a descending scree of great incline but soon becomes a great track all downhill to the Cordel de la Campanilla where we continue with a good track that continues on the Camino del Agua, also a very good track. Here another important problem arises, instead of finishing the Camino del Agua and continuing to the Puerto road to then climb approximately 2 km. The route turns left through the countryside and crosses towards the port through stone quarries, streams, grass and torrents with a huge gradient where you have to carry the bike until a few hundred metres before the port. I recommend taking all this into account, since doing the route as I have done it seems totally inadvisable to me. Real data: Time: 3h 36 min. Distance 44.35 Km. Average speed: 12.20 km/h

We left at 9:00 from a street next to the Repsol gas station at the entrance to the town coming from Los Molinos. José Carlos, Miguel Ángel and I are going to tackle this stage on a sunny and warm day. We begin the 300 meters of ascent to the point where the Puricelli Trail (Puchireli for some illiterate) begins. The climb is very steep, thank goodness it is not very long. The Puricello path ends at the Hospital de la Fuenfría, about 4 km after starting it. It has somewhat annoying cobblestones, but there are no steep climbs except for two consecutive ones just about 200 meters before reaching the hospital. From the hospital we take a stretch of road very carefully and if possible along the edge, since it is a prohibited direction, but the other alternative is to go down towards the road and go back up the meters that we have gained on another road until we reach the Dehesas. We went up and up until we reached the Mirador de los Poetas where they took a photo of us, but we don't know how the case is that they put a filter on us that added glasses and a white beard to José Carlos and me. I've been checking my phone and I don't have anything similar configured. It is a case for Iker Jiménez. We continue riding until Puerto de la Fuenfría, which is about 14.5 km from the beginning. During the entire journey, in different sections we have come across the platoon of electricians who have taken our photo at the viewpoint. At times they have passed by at full speed without warning. I would like to see them with an animal-powered bike like ours, to see if they were that cool. We arrive at Collado de Marichiva and begin the descent to the valley of the Moros River. The descent is a rocky hell. It's just a kilometer but quite dangerous for those of us who are a bit clumsy going down unsafe places. We arrive at the gravel road that will take us to the Pto. del León road. This path leads downwards surrounded by trees. It's 14 km. and only in the final sections does it have a short, gentle climb, just after crossing a fence. It is a real marvel. About 200 or 300 meters before reaching the Puerto del León road you have to cross another fence. Since there were three of us, we passed our bikes over the fence. Then three or four electric cars arrived and we helped them get through. Two people were needed on each side of the fence to pass their bikes. We go up the road. It is 1.5 km to the top of the port. The worst is the initial 700 meters, which gives me the impression that they are the steepest section of the port on the northern slope. The last meters are practically flat until reaching the port. We go down the port towards Guadarrama and 1 km after starting the descent we have to take the Camino del Arcipreste that goes out to the left. So we have to cross the road very carefully. We take the road. This time there is more vegetation than the previous sections and at approximately km 38.5 of the route a rather shitty downhill section begins in which you have to be careful with stones and irregularities. This section is about 2 km. Later the path improves a lot and, finally, we take a narrow path with some slightly complicated sections. Here the electric cars have made their appearance again at full speed. I would like them to be a little more respectful towards those of us who are using only our strength, because they almost always push themselves past without taking into account that those of us who ride a normal bike have it "a little" more complicated. The narrow path ends and all we have to do is go down to the car and return to Madrid. In short, an outing that the three of us liked, especially M. Ángel who did not know this area.