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| Go to the light! |
Spain is full of great ideas - possession football, highway maintenance, tomato bread, and bars at kids' sporting events, to name a few. But perhaps their best idea is the Via Verde (Greenway): a network of old unused railway lines that have been reconditioned for use by cyclists and hikers. There are 2,200 kilometers of Via Verde across Spain. Businesses have developed to support
travelers along the way. Former train stations have been turned into
inns and restaurants. Bike shops rent bikes and transport cyclists to
and from starting and finishing points. Best of all, no motorized
vehicles of any sort are allowed.
Since they were railroad tracks, the Via Verde tracks have gentle grades and often run along river canyons. And the mountainous tracks have tunnels, sometimes dozens of tunnels in short stretches. Many of the tunnels have solar-powered, motion sensitive lighting systems inside. On a hot day riding through a kilometer-long railway tunnel cools you off faster than a leap in the river, and you aren't soggy afterwards.
Julie and I rode a 30 kilometer section in Tarragona last week, and we took the kids on a 40 kilometer section from Girona to the Costa Brava a few months ago. A few more photos below.
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| Along the Ebro River. |
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| In a tunnel. |
