La Pedriza, an amazing 40 Km trail

The alarm clock woke me at 6 AM this morning, I had plans to do a trail early in the morning at a time that the temperature would still be bearable. Pedriza was my destination, a name for part of the nature reserve Cuenca alta del Manzanares. I got there a little before 7 AM and set out on a stretch that is actually part of the Camino de Santiago, I was here a week earlier on our way to Santiago.


The trail, including a little stretch leading up to where I had parked my car, is about 40 KM. I opted to ride the trail clock-wise and started with my climb, which promissed to be an aggregate of a little over 1 Km. I had done the Pedriza before with Frans, in fact it was the first training run for the Camino. When I look back at it that now, and remember where we decided we had had enough of the climb, I now realise that we actually only climbed 1/3 of the total. It seemed so heavy at the time, but I now know how heavy this trail really is. I was glad that I had set out at such an early hour as the 18 degree temperature was great and I was dreading having to do this in 35 plus degree weather. At the top of the regular trail there is an extra run up a peak called La Nava. It looked amazing, but I figured I would keep that for another day. I did the entire trail within three hours which I thought was pretty good. During the descent back to Manzanares I passed loads of MTBers that were working on their first ascent.

I will definitely come back to this amazing trail again soon.

Hasta la próxima
Douwe