Alto Tajo Gorge Ride
A 349 km loop
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Why this ride
A rider’s loop: clean exit, memorable middle, calm return. A 349 km loop that starts and ends near Arroyomolinos, about 7 h 15 of riding. It goes by way of Boadilla del Monte, Scenic stretch near Colmenar Viejo and near Venturada. The climb of the day is near Navalcarnero. It tops out at about 1,150 m.
Roadbook
- Fuel stop in Arroyomolinos
fuel
Fuel at 0 km.
- High point near Navalcarnero
pass
Navalcarnero has one of the finest arcaded squares in the Madrid region, the Plaza de Segovia, with wooden balconies, stone columns and a lively atmosphere on market days. The town has royal connections too: in the seventeenth century, King Philip IV's wedding to Mariana of Austria was celebrated here, and the house where the event took place is still pointed out. Today it is a busy market town on the southwestern edge of the Madrid metropolitan area.
The surrounding countryside is dry and open, with fields of cereals, olive groves and vineyards. Navalcarnero is one of the subzones of the Vinos de Madrid appellation, and the local wines, robust reds and some whites, can be tasted in bodegas in the area. In summer, the heat is intense, and the landscape turns golden brown under a blazing sky; in winter, mornings can be cold and frosty.
The riding around Navalcarnero is a mix of fast main roads and quieter rural routes. The A-5 motorway towards Extremadura is fast but dull, while the minor roads towards the Alberche valley and the foothills of the Sierra de Gredos are much more enjoyable, with curves and changes in elevation. The reservoirs around San Martín de Valdeiglesias are a popular destination for Madrid riders on weekends.
Navalcarnero has plenty of fuel stations, supermarkets and restaurants, so it is a good place to stop before heading into the countryside. Local bars serve tapas and traditional Castilian dishes, such as roast lamb and stews. After this stop the ride heads east towards the Alto Tajo, a wild gorge area far from the city, where the landscape and the riding change completely.
- Near Boadilla del Monte
finish
The M-501 west of Madrid has a reputation. Known to everyone as the carretera de los pantanos, the road of the reservoirs, it runs from the edge of the city towards the Sierra de Gredos past a string of lakes, and on weekends it fills with motorcycles heading for the mountains. This finish lies at its eastern end, near Boadilla del Monte, where the capital's wealthy suburbs meet the pine and holm oak of the Monte de Boadilla.
Boadilla has one grand building. The Palacio del Infante Don Luis was built in the eighteenth century by Ventura Rodríguez for the brother of King Charles III, who lived here with his court of musicians and artists, including the composer Luigi Boccherini. The palace has been restored and its gardens are open to the public.
The forest around Boadilla is a remnant of the Mediterranean woodland that once covered the area, and it is home to deer, rabbits and birds of prey. Walking and cycling paths criss-cross it, and it is a pleasant place to stretch out after a long ride.
Coming back from the Alto Tajo, the final stretch is a dash along the motorways around Madrid, the M-40 and M-50, with heavy traffic and speed cameras. The M-501 itself is closely watched by traffic police and cameras, a consequence of its accident record.
Supplies are a non-issue in these suburbs. What matters is the timing: Madrid eats late, so if you roll in at eight the bars around Boadilla's old centre will only just be warming up. A caña and a plate of jamón at the counter will hold you until dinner.
- Scenic stretch near Colmenar Viejo
scenic
Scenic stretch near Colmenar Viejo, about halfway.
- Photo stop near Venturada
photo
Venturada is a small municipality about fifty kilometres north of Madrid, just off the A-1 motorway to Burgos. It sits on the first rise of land where the plain begins to climb towards the Sierra de Guadarrama and the Sierra Norte de Madrid, and from the hills around it you get long views back across the plain to the city and forward to the mountains.
The landscape is dry and open, with fields, holm oak scrub and granite outcrops. To the north lies the Sierra de la Cabrera, a jagged ridge of granite that looks surprisingly dramatic for its modest height, and beyond it the valley of the Lozoya and the reservoirs that supply Madrid with water. The villages of the Sierra Norte are among the least developed in the region, with stone houses, slate roofs and a slower pace of life.
For riding, Venturada is a gateway. The roads north and east lead into the Sierra Norte, with winding routes through hills and along reservoirs, while the A-1 provides a quick route north towards the Somosierra pass and on to Burgos. The M-608 and other local roads offer pleasant riding through the foothills. Surfaces are generally good, and traffic is light away from the motorway, although weekends see plenty of Madrid riders heading out.
Fuel and food are available along the A-1 and in nearby towns like El Molar and Cabanillas de la Sierra. As a start and finish, Venturada is convenient, close to the city but with immediate access to the mountains.
- Brea de Tajo, on the way back
swim
South-east of Madrid the land drops towards the Tagus in a broken country of chalky hills, olive groves and vineyards, and Brea de Tajo sits on a ridge above the valley, a small village of white houses and a big church. The river runs a few kilometres south, between Estremera and Driebes, in a wide valley of poplars and irrigated fields.
This is the edge of the Madrid region, where it meets Castilla-La Mancha, and it feels like a different world from the city. The summers are hot and dry, the winters cold, and the villages are quiet. Villarejo de Salvanés, to the west, has a tall castle keep built by the Order of Santiago, and Chinchón, a little further, has one of the most famous plaza mayors in Spain, a ring of wooden balconies around a square used for bullfights.
For a swim, be careful. The Tagus here is slow and muddy, and its banks are often overgrown. There are small reservoirs in the area, but swimming in them is not always permitted. The best option on a hot day may be a municipal pool in one of the villages, which open in summer.
The riding is a mix of fast, straight roads across the plateau and winding descents into the valley. The surfaces are generally good, and traffic is light. Watch for agricultural vehicles, and in summer, the heat.
Brea has a bar and little else, so treat Villarejo de Salvanés or Fuentidueña de Tajo as your fuel stops. In July and August ride early or late; at four in the afternoon the plateau shimmers and even the lizards hide.
- Food stop near Colmenar de Oreja
food
A break here at 299 km.
- Back to Alto Tajo Gorge
finish
This final point lies on the south-western edge of Madrid, near Arroyomolinos and Navalcarnero, a long way from the Alto Tajo itself. The natural park that gives the ride its name is some hundred and fifty kilometres to the east, in the high limestone country on the borders of Guadalajara and Cuenca provinces, where the Tajo and its tributaries have cut deep, tree-lined gorges through a plateau of pale rock. Here, you are back in the commuter belt, among new housing estates and fields of cereal and olive.
Navalcarnero deserves a stop if you have any energy left, because its Plaza de Segovia is a proper arcaded square, built in brick and timber, with galleries on all sides and the feel of a small Castilian market town. It is also known historically as the place where Charles II married Marie Louise of Orléans in 1679, a royal wedding in the middle of nowhere, and the local wine, a rustic Madrid red, has been drunk here for centuries. Arroyomolinos is mostly modern, but it does have some old cork and holm oak in the surrounding land.
The Alto Tajo you rode in the morning is something else entirely. The river runs a rich turquoise between cliffs, with griffon vultures wheeling overhead, juniper and pine on the slopes, and high plateau roads that feel closer to Aragon than to Madrid. The gorge roads there are often narrow and empty, with the occasional village such as Poveda de la Sierra or Peralejos de las Truchas hidden in the folds of the hills. Fuel stations in that area are scarce, so you will have been glad of a full tank at the start, whereas here, with Navalcarnero's twenty thousand people and Arroyomolinos beside it, you are never far from a pump, a bar or a supermarket.
Traffic is the main hazard at this end of the day. The A-5 and M-50 get sticky in the evening and in summer the tarmac holds heat long after sunset. Take it calmly, let the tired muscles unwind, and think about those turquoise gorges while the brake lights glow ahead.