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.