Let yourself be captivated by the Network of Natural Trails

El Nature Trails Program of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has been reusing transport infrastructure of all types since 1993, many of which They had fallen into disuse, giving access to nature and the rural environment.

The main objective is to energize these spaces, contributing to the socioeconomic development of the local population and facilitating the enjoyment and knowledge of our wonderful nature.

If I wrote better than I do I could have found a good title. Titles that are both a banner and a motto, such as Castilla en Canal by Raúl Guerra Garrido or the Empty Spain by Sergio del Molino. These books, like some others, although not as many, perfectly reflect the relationships of people with their geographical space, the historical contexts.

Everything lies in the landscape, in the territory, in nature. Geography rules. In a country like ours, the substrate is inseparable from human activity. Those natural and rural spaces that nourish us, that comfort us, that welcome us are the result of years of use by man: forestry, livestock, agriculture...

And always, accompanying us, the roads; communication routes; Roman roads, livestock trails, coastal paths, mountain paths, towpaths, highways, railway tracks... The paths have changed over time, but we could say that their function has been maintained, connecting points, localities, places. Like everything in life, with changes.

Many of these roads seem to have lost their original meaning in this era of hypermobility, of always going faster. At the same time, every day more people demand access to the nature that we need to balance our lives.

The Spanish public administration soon recognized the need to offer solutions to this social demand, which has been increasing exponentially for years. More and more people enjoy practicing sports and activities linked to direct contact with nature.

Many years have passed since work on the Olot-Girona section of the Camino del Carrilet began in 1993, recovering an old railway route. Today this itinerary, and others that revolve around it, generate a very important economic impact throughout the region.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food leads the response to this demand with an ambitious project, we love that its name is Natural Paths, a success for an umbrella brand that has already recovered more than 10.000 kilometers throughout Spain, throughout the Peninsula. and also on the islands.

A tool for the development of rural areas, a tool that addresses the growing search for scenarios to practice sustainable, outdoor tourism, providing alternatives to that empty Spain so in need of them.

These paths conditioned by the Ministry are intertwined with each other. Consolidating a network that allows us to enjoy both short routes in natural areas of special ecological and landscape value and other long routes, hundreds of kilometers that structure territories along large rivers, to give an example.

The Natural Paths Program, promoted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, is responsible for financing the recovery, conditioning and maintenance of paths that bring together a set of outstanding landscape, historical, natural or cultural qualities.

In most cases, these Nature Trails recover and give alternative use to thousands of kilometers of routes that were disused or underused. Transport infrastructures are recovered (such as livestock tracks, disused railway platforms, towpaths, canal service roads, abandoned traditional roads) and, in some cases, new paths are opened that allow the development of ecotourism use in many territories that They have seen their train pass by on too many occasions.

This work, enormous in a country like ours with broken relief and capricious terrain, bears fruit. It highlights the immense geological, climatic, biological and cultural diversity of Spain. That diversity that makes our country one of the richest, no; in the richest of all Western European countries in terms of variety of landscapes, the basis of the tourist proposals of the future. Consuming landscape, without deteriorating it, improving whenever possible the natural capital it houses, has to be the goal of any public policy worth its salt in current times.

The Nature Trails have known how to welcome their mark, with those red signs that already mark thousands of kilometers of itineraries of all kinds: GR such as the Ebro Trail or the Tajo Trail, the two longest-running Natural Trails that together add up to more than 2000 kilometres; Roundabouts such as the beautiful Camin de Cavalls in Menorca, old railway routes recovered as the Greenways... We cannot forget some spectacular Natural Paths, such as the Natural Path from Montfalcó to the Congost de Mont-rebei, where thanks to the anchored wooden walkways On the rock and on the suspension bridge we can contemplate the beauty of the Montsec mountain range.

It should be noted that of the 3.100 kilometers of Greenways that currently exist in Spain, 1.600 are Nature Trails. And, most importantly, the project is making it possible to connect these small, unconnected Greenway routes into a true network of long-distance routes.

It's not all about making roads. Within the program, work is also being done to improve the cyclability of some routes, something that we love; the information on which sections of the routes are cyclable is basic. We are convinced that the Network of Natural Trails will be a key factor in the future National Cycle Tourist Itineraries Network.

The Ministry is also working on the accessibility of its paths (an issue of high social impact and very necessary) and on measuring the economic and social impact of the Nature Trails. It is clear that all of this goes far beyond making roads.

In these last months of confinements in our Autonomous Communities, even in our provinces, I know that these Nature Trails have been an escape valve for many of us. The situation caused by the pandemic has resoundingly reminded us how important it is to be able to enjoy the outdoors and the need for infrastructure that allows us to do so, always with the utmost respect for the environment and its conservation. We are mere users who are passing through, others will come later and it is our responsibility to leave them a planet that continues to be admirable.

The proportions of the task carried out are impressive, although there is still work to be done. As with many other routes in our country, it is no longer so much about continuing to make kilometers of routes, but rather about building the necessary ones to consolidate a coherent network that connects the territory and allows access from more urban areas to that living Spain that continues. present in all regions.

We must look for the gaps in this great map of Natural Paths to design future proposals and, above all, we must work, even more, to make the Natural Paths known to users. Ideas like the Natural Trails podcast and Nature Trails application They contribute to improving this knowledge, but dissemination and communication have to be a permanent task to ensure that the Caminos Naturales brand, and its value for the territory, is recognized.

From our humble vantage point we allow ourselves the audacity to launch some proposals to consider:

• • Actively work with the tourism sector to raise awareness, especially to active tourism operators, of the Nature Trail Program and to include these tours in their tourism products.

• • Along the same lines, establish a communication channel with the tourist offices. The value of these information windows for the end user remains very high. Special mention deserves the more than 30 Spanish tourism offices located in different countries around the world and which would allow the message of the Nature Trails to be internationalized.

• • Speaking of internationalizing, in a country with the tourist vocation of Spain, the commitment to making the Nature Trails offer known to the international public is missing. Probably, and for reasons of competition, we would have to seek close collaboration with Turespaña for this task, but that someone would have to undertake it, we have no doubt.

• • And to internationalize, the materials will have to be translated. And there is a lot, a lot of material.

• • Improve the usability of the Caminos Naturales website and also think about who we think the website visitor will be and want to be, and write with them in mind.

• • The presence of the Nature Trails on platforms such as wikiloc is also missing, from which one could very easily reach an audience interested in the proposal.

• • And last but not least, maintenance work should be reinforced. Something increasingly complex as the network grows, but absolutely essential to achieve success.

Before finishing, I would like to make a special mention of a Nature Trail still in progress, the Santander-Mediterranean Natural Trail. A route that could not be completed at the time as a railway axis, and that perhaps a few decades later could be completed as a Natural Trail, linking the Mediterranean, from Sagunto, with the Cantabrian coasts, in Santander. An axis to structure a territory, a new great cycle route that we are looking forward to traveling.