La Pedriza, Madrid

I have done Pedriza twice before, once in April (although we did only a snippet of the entire trail) and once on June 20 of this year. An amazing circular trail, which we did counter clockwise. This meant that we had the steapest climb to start with with a long descent to take us back to where we had parked the car.


This trail is not particularly difficult, technically speaking. The difficulty is in the steep and long climb as you can see in below diagram.




Once you start to climb a little bit the views start getting better and better. There is a viewpoint (mirador) at the top of the trail, with stunning views of the peeks of Pedriza and down below Manzanares and the lake. In the distance you can also see the city of Madrid and its unmistakable 4 towers.



This trail is definitely worth going for, but don't underestimate the climb. If you stay on the track, a pretty smooth dirt track with small rocks and gravel, it is very easy going. Next time I am keen to take some of the forest trails that are around. The park, up until you reach the hight of the mirador, is pretty much a pine forest with huge rocks. Am looking forward to doing a winter wonderland trail once there will be snow later in the season, is supposed to be amazing.



We only had one incident happen yesterday, one that has now got Frans convince that he will in fact bring his gloves and helmet next time.