Touring northern Castilla along the Senda del Duero Nature Trail

The Natural Paths of Spain run on old railroad tracks, canals, public roads or even livestock. Since 1993 the Ministry of Agriculture has built or adapted more than 10,300 kilometers of natural roads throughout the entire Spanish geography.

These paths are designed to be able to get closer to the natural environment and to be able to discover our cultural heritage. In this way, old railroad tracks, canals, towpaths, cattle trails, trails, and even old public roads are being used again.

These infrastructures, which had their historical role in economic development, are once again recovering their role in rural areas through sustainable uses in the environment, allowing the population to be in contact with nature.

This time we go to Castilla y León, the Senda del Duero Nature Trail. It is made up of more than 750 kilometers of track, much of it next to the river with its mouth in Porto, already in Portugal. The route runs through the provinces of Soria, Burgos, Valladolid, Zamora and Salamanca.

From its source in the Sierra de Urbión to Vega Terrón, on the Portuguese border, the Senda del Duero covers, for more than 750 kilometers, different landscapes, the pine forests in the mountains, the juniper groves and vineyards of the Ribera del Duero, fields of labor and irrigation of Tierra de Campos and the holm oaks and olive groves of Arribes del Duero.

Starting in Soria

The Nature Trail starts from Soriana lands in which the mountain pastures and berrocales give way to pine forests and cereal plains. In this area, the banks of the Duero are marked by mosaics of agricultural estates, pine forests, holm oaks, poplar groves and gallery forests. The panorama changes from junipers and holm oaks to almond trees and vineyards, typical of the Burgos shore, and so on, accompanied by stone pine forests, to Valladolid lands.

Once in Zamorano lands, the route enters the fertile valley of the Duero River until it reaches the Sayaguesa peneplain. In this region, the Duero and its tributaries are encased in the granite, forming cuts of spectacular beauty such as the arribes.

This great diversity of ecosystems and habitats along the Duero Path is manifested in the different unique enclaves of natural interest that are traversed, such as:

Sierras de Urbión
Robledales del Berrún
Banks of the Douro River and tributaries
Riberas de Castronuño Nature Reserve
Douro canyons
Arribes del Duero Natural Park
Together with these natural values, the Nature Trail accompanies Castilian towns of great historical-cultural importance such as Vinuesa, Soria, Almazán, Gormaz, Aranda de Duero, Peñafiel, Simancas, Tordesillas or Toro; as well as small villages and places that bring the traveler closer to the customs and customs of central Iberia.

Throughout the entire route, the path crosses medieval bridges, discovering hermitages, churches, hydraulic mills, dams, dams and traditional architectures; it coincides with other historical roads and roads such as the Camino de Santiago or the Roman road Mirandesa; and it is found with various archaeological sites such as the archaeological zone of Pintia, the mining complex of Pontón or the Castro de Peña Redonda.