Menhir of San Juan – Art Route, Ebro Nature Trail

The first part of the trail ends at the Rioseco walkway, with views of the Monastery of Santa María de Rioseco, on the opposite bank. At this point a dead-end track begins that leads to the entrance of a private property. The Ebro Natural Trail enters a new path on the left, surrounds the meadows of the farm along the river bank and arrives at the first portage of the bike to avoid a rocky ledge that is stuck in a bend in the river. The descent has some wooden steps and then the elf path returns again through a beautiful beech forest to the Remolino houses. The comfort of the lane does not last long, until the Ebro River enters the Hocinos Gorge and metal walkways appear hanging on the walls of the canyon. Each walkway is barely ten meters long, the problem is going up and down the access steps with the bicycle on your back. In reality it is a few minutes, the gravel bikes are light and manageable and it is worth the bad time to feel the energy and beauty of nature in a very wild and vital stretch of the Ebro Natural Trail in Las Merindades, Burgos.The bikepacking route passes through the Puente del Aire and enters the Merindad de Valdivieso, a river corridor of the Ebro River full of historic towns at the foot of the Tesla mountain range, passage of an important Roman road that was decisive in communications between the plateau and the valleys of Las Merindades. On the eastern bank of the bridge is the Menhir of San Juan, sculpture number 15 on the Art Route, an itinerary created by the artist Carlos Armiño with the idea that “impregnating a path with art means awakening curiosity, intrigue and the search". In Valdivieso, pleasant gravel riding returns along rural roads and agricultural slopes on the banks of the Ebro, passing through Puente Arenas and visiting the church of San Pedro de Tejada, a jewel of the Burgos Romanesque, a work of art isolated on a private estate on the rolling hills. from the valley. The milestones of the Natural Trail pass through Población de Valdivieso and begin the climb towards the Tesla mountain range through Hoz de Valdivieso, overcoming a tough slope in the Peña Palomar gorge. The road makes a couple of inhuman curves and goes through a tunnel near a waterfall that is the threshold of a lost world. Among the trees, the houses of Tartalés de los Montes appear in a mountainous area where apparently only oaks, gall oaks, and pines should grow. and birds of prey prowling through the forest. The path passes near the Romanesque church of San Miguel and continues up a dirt track that is much more comfortable and pleasant than the previous section. The ascent ends at a hill where the last sculpture of the Art Route is located and begins a rapid descent to the steep streets of Tartelés de Cilla. The final stretch to Trespaderne follows the N-629 road and enters the town via the medieval bridge over the Nela River.