I liked Aguilar from the moment we arrived but this morning’s bike ride circling the reservoir to the west is what really sold me on this region. Excellent cycling, very little traffic until merging in to the national road on the way back to town, stirring vistas, wildflowers, and a succession of the Romanesque churches the region is known for. No thrilling wildlife sightings, but we’ll leave that for Rachael today. Its wild country in the foothills of the Palantine Mountains though, and I have no doubt that if I biked or walked enough backroads here I’d eventually come across roe and red deer and maybe even one of the bears or Iberian wolves that reportedly range here.
It’s not a long or difficult ride but it takes me over three hours to complete my 22 mile loop because there are so many reasons to stop along the way. If I didn’t have a lunch date to get back for I’d have enjoyed an even longer exploration.
Climbing away from Aguilar, I’m only about two miles from town and not far past the dam when it feels like I’m biking through remote wilderness. The hills aren’t bad but there’s the occasional short steep ascent that make me glad I’m here on an unloaded bicycle.
Scott AndersonTo Andrea BrownThis was pretty exceptional alright. I don’t remember ever seeing such a concentration of them. Reply to this comment 5 months ago
Excellent riding country - a smooth and unstriped road, captivating views, and quiet enough that you can hear the rare motorized vehicle coming with plenty of time to move to the side.
Rachael went off in a different direction than I did, a 12 mile OAB to the northeast following the Camino route toward Bilbao. She didn’t make it that far and didn’t find any Romanesque churches, but she got her fill of fantastic scenery and claimed an interesting wildlife sighting.
She enjoyed an outstanding hike, but she’ll undoubtedly remember her sighting of an Iberian wolf more than anything else from the day. It ran across the road not far in front of her, moving flat out with its tail flying behind it. She was describing it afterwards (she didn’t get a photo, this one’s from the web), but described it afterwards as maybe a large fox? And probably as long as she is tall? No way that could be a fox. It had to have been one of these guys, which roam wild in these mountains. Incredible.
