Ruta de los Puentes

MUNICIPAL TERMS BY WHICH IT RUNS

RECOMMENDATIONS

Route without difficulty. You only have to save a few forces for the slopes at the end. It can be done at any time of the year, in summer the central hours of the day will be avoided. It is convenient to stock up on water in Las Casillas.

DESCRIPTION

At the entrance to Las Casillas there is a post that indicates the beginning of the route. Following Francisco Molina Malonado street, you reach the Plaza de la Constitución. There, a street descends to the left and immediately becomes a dirt track that goes directly to the Víboras river valley. After having traveled 400 meters on asphalt, turn off (km. 2.2) and take a track on the right that starts next to a chalet. Further on you will pass, also to the right, the path of the dam. Shortly afterwards the ruins of the Víboras castle can be seen on the opposite side. After 3 kilometers you come out onto the old national road (km. 10.7). On its asphalt, you cross the district of Venta Pants, cross the Víboras river once again and begin to climb until you find the dirt track (km. 12.4) that connects with the route of the old Oil Train. The route now heads towards the place known as El Pontón, where you can admire a spectacular modernist viaduct that rises a few meters from a Roman stone bridge. Go back along the same train track and reach a ruined halt (km. 18.9). At this point you have to leave the railway platform to take a livestock track, the path of the Carriles. First, it crosses the old national road and after 2 kilometers it ends in the district of Las Casillas. Halfway up there is the detour (km. 23.6) that leads to a quarry and at the foot of the Víboras castle. There you continue along the left lane that ends at the entrance of the town with a steep incline. The Jaén-Campo Real railway line saw the last train pass in 1984. After twelve years of neglect, the administration today wants to turn this forgotten iron road into an authentic green corridor, suitable for ecotourism. Throughout its 121 kilometers the road crosses places of singular beauty, such as El Pontón, where through a daring viaduct it crosses the escarpments of the Víboras river ravine. A few meters away, a graceful Roman bridge provides a delicate counterpoint to so much display of nineteenth-century engineering.