Rothar Routes

Camino del Cid, a journey through medieval Spain..

By Turlough on December 2, 2024

It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle.

Ernest Hemingway

The Camino del Cid Route certainly proves the truth of Hemingway’s words as it meanders across Spain, retracing the steps of the famous Spanish Knight, Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, better know as ‘El Cid’. Unlike the mythical Don Quixote and Don Juan, El Cid was the real deal, a swashbuckling Knight who fought for, and against, Christian and Muslim rulers. The name ‘El Cid’ derives from an Arabic word, meaning ‘The Lord’.

The route begins in the sleepy village of Vivar del Cid, about 20kms north of Burgos and ends in bustling Valencia on the Mediterranean coast. I covered a total of 955kms and climbed for a total of 10,474 metres over 13 days. I used a series of terrific PDF guides of the route – different guides available for MTBs, road routing, gravel touring and hiking available on this website There’s also a very good App to accompany you on the route.

I followed a mixture of the MTB and road routes and threw in a few diversions of my own. The route took me into the very heart of inland Spain, a very remote and sparsely populated territory of a wide variety of breathtaking landscapes and vast natural areas, devoid of people, dotted with small towns and villages that seem to have changed little over the centuries and are remarkably well preserved or restored. It’s a country that values its traditions and heritage, a people that are friendly and welcoming and very similar to the Irish.

Most people associate the word ‘Camino’ with the various pilgrimage routes to Santiago de Compostela but ‘Camino’ in Spanish merely means ‘Path’ and there are literally hundreds of Caminos in Spain, long and short. This route has no connection with Santiago, though it does intersect with many of the routes, such as Camino Frances and Camino Sagunto. Spain is a Mecca for hiking and cycling routes, with many themed routes to choose from. This route is completely different in so many ways from Camino Santiago, especially in terms of numbers doing the route, the availability of accommodation and its remoteness. I loved it.

The Story of El Cid

Most of the Iberian Peninsula had fallen under Muslim rule in the 8th century and became known as Al-Andalus. It was constantly under attack from the Christian Kingdoms to the north. After the decline of the Umayyad caliphate the area broke into a series of Taifas, smaller independent Muslim states and the attacks intensified form the Christian north. In 1081 a knight, Rodrigo Díaz del Cid from Burgos was expelled by the King and forced into exile with his followers, spending years wandering around from Kingdom to Kingdom warring against both Christian and Moorish Kingdoms. Alliances were constantly being formed and broken. El Cid acquired a huge reputation as a warrior and strategist and he eventually captured the Moorish city of Valencia where he would die as a prince in 1099. And in death he became immortalised in songs and fables. This route connects various locations associated with El Cid and this journey followed the story of El Cid as he wandered between the different Kingdoms he was identified with.

The first lines of The Song of El Cid, considered one of the finest examples of European epic literature:

He turned and looked upon them,
and he wept very sore
As he saw the yawning gateway and the hasps wrenched off the door,
And the pegs whereon no male nor coat pf hair there hung
There perched no malting goshawk and there no falcon swung.
My Lord the Cid sighed deeply, such grief was in his heart
and he spake well and wisely:
"Oh thou, that in heaven that art, our Father and Master,
I now give thanks to thee,
of their wickedness my foemen have done this thing to me!"
Then the shook out the bridle rein, further to ride afar,
they and the Crow on their right hand, as they issued from Vivar..

The Way that I went

So many memories and so many highlights; it’s hard to sift through them all so I’ll give a flavour of what stood out for me and what makes this route so special.

I set out with the intention of completing the off road Mountain Bike route but I quickly realised that my hybrid bike would not take the hammering of the rougher parts of the trail and I had to improvise and mix it up with back road and gravel tracks. I also had the wrong rear rack which meant the panniers were hung too high and that created a lot of instability That was an early disappointment but in reality the way that I went was equally challenging and equally beautiful.

The logistics for me were to fly to Bilbao (it cost me an extra €50 luggage charge – only for Aer Lingus to not bother put the bike on the flight… hard to do a bike tour without a bike! It arrived 24 hours later but I had to return to the airport to collect it or I would have lost another day). A bus took me to the start of the route in Vivar del Cid, just north of Burgos. The bus deposited me on the side of the main road on the outskirts of the village. I carried the bike and my three other bags into the village and reassembled the bike in a bus shelter and I was ready to go! It was great to start at the very beginning of the route,

First ‘sello’ or stamp was obtained from the elderly owner of Molino del Cid who gave me a sword to pose with for the official start!

The route passes through some of Spain’s most picturesque friendliest small towns and villages. Forty of them have been declared Historic and Artistic Sites by the Spanish Government. Spanish people are very easy going and friendly, not many speak English along this route but it’s not a problem and we found easy to understand each other with our attempts at translation and gestures! It was a short first day due to the late arrival in Vivar and things only really got going the next day from beautiful Burgos. Burgos is stunningly beautiful and is one of the major destination points of the Camino Francés. It’s a small city and I was in the country side within a matter of 2 or 3 kms and onto the off road section. I was quickly cycling through a beautiful pine forest and I was suddenly aware that I was in splendid isolation, a big contrast with the bustle of Burgos!

There are more than fifty protected natural areas along the route with moorland, valleys, mountains, rivers and coastal areas. I was immediately struck by the colourful mosaic of wild flowers, the birdsong and the biodiverse habitats that I was cycling through. Not a sound of a car, or sight of another person for miles on end. Listen to the cuckoo here!:

It was hard to believe this was 21st Century Spain as I followed these ancient paths that led towards tiny villages associated with the story of El Cid. In many ways little seems to have changed in these sleepy hamlets.

I didn’t meet many cycling or hiking The Camino del Cid but I did meet a lovely couple and their dog whose path crossed with mine in Santo Domingo – they were heading in the opposite direction to me towards Santiago.

Leaving Santo Domingo I quickly climbed up to La Yecla Gorge, a 1km long deep gorge carved out of the karst limestone, a fabulous walk located below the road. I had it all to myself in the early morning sunshine!

Spain is the most mountainous country in Europe and I think I cycled over every mountain top on this route! Constant heavy breathing ascending and elation on epic switchback downhills Every turn in the road brought exciting new contrasting vistas – rugged mountains, dried up river beds, green valleys, pine forests, orchards, vineyards, vast open plains of wheat, but no sign of Don Quixote fighting against the huge wind farms on the mountain tops!

One of the great highlights was reaching Albarracín, one of the most picturesque villages in Spain.

But there were many other villages equally as captivating and most pf them over looked by impressively preserved hilltop fortresses.

Words can’t do the scenes justice, so I these photos give a good flavour of the real Spain.