RideEatCamp

Quintanar de la Sierra

Europe

The last two days have been good to us. As we rode from Casalarreina to Anguiano yesterday and from Anguiano to Quintanar de la Sierra today, we traded lush lands for dry, coastal terrain for mountains.

On the way to Anguiano we passed through lots of dry land farms.
On the way to Anguiano we passed through lots of dry land farms.
Mansilla de la Sierra is only visible when the reservoir is low late in the season.
Mansilla de la Sierra is only visible when the reservoir is low late in the season.
As we climbed to Quintanar de la Sierra the poplar trees were showing their fall colors.
As we climbed to Quintanar de la Sierra the poplar trees were showing their fall colors.

It’s nice to be back in the mountains. The roads are narrower and twistier. There are fewer cars. It’s peaceful and tranquilo. It’s also colder at night. It’s been a long time, maybe since our first nights in the UK in May, when I felt the need to bundle up for bed.

On our way to Quintanar we passed the remnants of a village that fell victim the local dam. Once the dam was completed in 1958 the villagers had to leave, unless they wanted to live at the bottom of the rising reservoir. The village was exposed because the reservoir was nearly empty. We rode around some of the crumbled ruins. Everything was covered in dry mud. The whole valley was just one shade of reddish brown.