Captivating Spain

Spain is a walker’s paradise. It is the second most mountainous country in Europe after Switzerland, and almost every one of its 50 provinces has ranges to explore, many of them with summits higher than Britain’s landmark peak Ben Nevis at 1,345 metres.

The extensive networks of waymarked footpaths make hiking feasible and very enjoyable. There are routes all over the country. Dozens of long-distance footpaths criss-cross Spain, which can be dipped into or followed in their entirety. The regional walking federations provide detailed information and interactive maps on their websites about these routes which are known as ‘gran recorrido’, or GR for short. Some of the best of these are the GR-11 trans-Pyrenean hike; the GR-7 which arrives from Andorra and runs down through Cataluña, Valencia and Murcia, before ending on the coast of Andalucía; and the GR-8 which has some fantastic stages in Teruel province (Aragón region). The GRs have white/red waymarks and are generally well signed and maintained.

Each region has its own network of short-distance footpaths which are called ‘pequeño recorrido’. The PRs use white/yellow waymarks. My home region of Valencia has hundreds of these walks. They are signposted with a CV after the PR, with CV indicating the Comunidad Valenciana (Valencia region). One of my favourite walks is the PR-CV 147 which takes in spectacular hell’s ravine, the Barranco del Infierno in Alicante province.
Rather confusingly, the Aragón region follows a slightly different format, with their provinces appearing on the PR signage (not the region). For example, one of the walks outlined on this site in Teruel province is the ‘Vuelta a Sollavientos’ ravine route, which has the name tag PR-TE 78. The TE bit stands for Teruel. In Huesca province (also in the Aragón region), one of my routes in the Pyrenees is on the PR-HU 182, with HU standing for Huesca. This doesn’t spoil our enjoyment of the walks for one moment and this would not be Spain without regional variations coming into play (all part of the country’s rich tapestry, etc). There are also SL walks, which stands for Sendero Local (local footpath). These are signed with white/green waymarks and by definition have to be under 10km in length.

The routes are maintained and signed by the regional walking federations, with the help of the regional and provincial governments, and town halls. All these different institutions provide information and maps. It would take several lifetimes to walk all the routes available around Spain and this website can only highlight a small selection of them. Necessarily, areas have to be chosen and others ignored otherwise the volume of information would be overwhelming.

Spain is a large and incredibly diverse country, with climate, geography and cultures all wildly different in the far-flung corners. The greenery of the north contrasts dramatically with the arid south-east. It can be 35°C in early summer in the centre or the south, while the Pyrenees could be experiencing snow on the same day.

It is a captivating country to travel in and I have found that journeys of discovery are often best done by looking at a map and setting off to explore areas which appear interesting; ie, the mountainous ones. However, not everyone has the time to do this, particularly if they live in another country. I have been fortunate enough to be able to dedicate a lot of my spare time over the last 30 years to this pursuit. Through Jones’ Jaunts, I hope to be able to share some of my experiences with you, and offer pointers and information about some of the best places in Spain to visit and walk in.

And, by way of a footnote, for the sake of clarity I should explain more about regions and provinces. Spain has 17 semi-autonomous regions including Valencia, Cataluña, Basque Country, etc, which have governments with devolved powers to run healthcare, education and other services. Then there are the provinces. Most regions are made up of several of them; for example the Valencia region has three provinces, which are Alicante, Valencia and Castellón. Aragón region also has three; Teruel, Zaragoza and Huesca. The provinces have ‘governments’ which have minor powers, particularly in tourism which does affect walking infrastructure and promotion. Then, at the bottom of the pile are the town halls, which also have tourism budgets that can be used for walking infrastructure.