The Vasco-Navarro Greenway by bike

San Isidro arrives and will catch us with our backpack ready. Our destination: Vitoria and the Vasco Navarro Greenway.

The origin of the line was to unite what was then known as the Vascongadas with Navarra. The project dates back to no less than the year 1882, although it was not inaugurated until 1927. It linked the stations of the Jacobean town of Estella in Navarra, with that of Mekolalde in Guipúzcoa, passing through Vitoria. The old railway route crosses the entire province of Álava from north to southeast and goes through the Llanada Alavesa and the Mountain to Tierra Estella.

The last train to travel this route did so on New Year's Eve 1967. Today it is a wonderful Green Way perfect for our bicycle tours, an example of good work and continuous improvement.

He left us as a legacy some stations, witnesses of that time when the train was a fundamental means of transportation that structured the territory. The “Old English” artistic style of the 19th century shaped the buildings that watched over the train's progress. The train adopted different names depending on the area: Transarlabaniano, Trenico, Cangrejero, it crossed a landscape of soft colors and cereal lands that unfold around this route pierced between mountains.
The Arquijas Gorge is very striking. It is a ravine wedged between the Sierra de Loquiz and the rocks of Costalera. The passage is crossed by a viaduct with nine arches and 30 meters high. An impressive work of engineering with echoes of war that recalls the first Carlist war and one of its protagonists, General Zumalacárregui.

Although without a doubt the strong points of the tour are Estella and its Camino de Santiago and of course, Vitoria, European green capital, a welcoming city that offers us outstanding gastronomy and where we can enjoy its famous pintxos.

We will be installed in a wonderful and very central hotel, the NH Canciller Ayala in Vitoria.