Holidays can be around every corner thanks to our caravan style. Today we offer you an inland route to delight us in each town, perfect for a short getaway or for those fleeing from beach tourism.
Ávila has villages worth visiting where you can eat well and go for a walk. Close to Madrid and with a very authentic rural air. Navas del Marqués, Zapardiel, Puerto de la Lancha are a mixture of landscape and town that encourages us to go out on the road. They are all a stone's throw away and waiting for us to take advantage of them.
The entrance to Avila by Peguerinos is always surprising. With snow it is a succession of postcards and in spring, with the yellow broom and thousands of wild flowers, we find ourselves in one of the best places to drive our motorhome slowly and take advantage of a good bike ride. Fall is another precious time.
Navas del Marqués can be a good stopping point, just one hour from Madrid. In its municipality they have several marked routes for the taste of the most hikers, with different levels of difficulty that can be done on foot or on horseback. Some take us along cliffs, others through old military trenches, oak groves, pine groves and quite interesting viewpoints to be explored at any time of the year.
Of course, we should not miss visiting the Palacio de Magalia castle, ordered to be built by the Marqués de las Navas Pedro Dávila y Zuñiga in the 16th century, in addition to the Dominican convent. There are guided tours that show us these two monuments of the town Parish Church of San Juan Bautista and Hermitage of Santísimo Cristo de Gracia.
Obviously, the day must be completed with a tour of its white houses and, incidentally, try the pot navero (a variety of irresistible spicy stirred potatoes), the local blood sausages, the Ávila beef or the chicharrones.
The detour from Zapardiel takes us to another type of scenario. As the road ascends, the vegetation transforms. The poplars in oaks, the oaks in broom. On the crest of the mountain range, the wind turbines marking the horizon.
If we are adventurous, we will head north along the AV501 along the path of Puerto de la Lancha and then Puerto de la Cruz, raising our eyes along a path of windmills and going up in altitude until we get directly under the Sierra de Ojos Albos. If we stop at this port there are paths prepared to walk next to the peaks.
The luck of this path is that it is not very crowded. Although the road is narrow, it is quite well paved and allows us to go for a leisurely walk uphill little by little and ending with some fun curves. In spring we can also feel observed by the diversity of birds of prey that cross those same skies.
Through here we will arrive at Santa María del Badillo, a municipality on the border with Segovia that is divided into two towns, Aldeavieja and Blascoeles. Here we will have numerous monuments to feel stately. Its herrerillo style and its altarpiece are reasons to stop at the sanctuary of the Virgen de Cubillo. Next to it, the Church and the Hermitage of San Sebastián, the Hermitage of Cristo de la Luz, the 14th-century fountain or the 17th-century Via Crucis.
Old village it is a good place to park. From here we can follow a simple path on foot to climb the bare mountain and enjoy the panoramic view. However, if we want to refresh ourselves in nature, we can also walk through the oak grove of El Valle that is dotted with different flowers throughout the year: violets in March-April, anemones, chamomiles or wild roses in spring, as well as thyme or marjoram. Its most emblematic building is the church of San Sebastian, although the incentive of the stay is to explore the surroundings with its roads and its hermitages on its outskirts, such as the Ermita de la Luz or San Cristóbal or the sanctuary of the Virgin, which is a three kilometers between this town and Blascoeles.
To eat there is no loss, since there is only one bar in the town called El milinero. That it is the only one does not prevent it from being good by 'comparison', its skewers are rich and in winter its wood-burning fireplace makes it even more cozy.
Blascoeles, a few kilometers away, offers an interesting route for the road if we park our van to admire its unique slate constructions in the area. The 8-kilometer road to Maello makes us love the rock of Avila, which is shown in a variety of shades, from dark slate, passing through brownish granite to reaching reddish lands with volcanic reminiscences at sunset and we wonder if we are on Mars or in Lanzarote. This is because due to the high temperatures and pressures it has produced spectacular rock explosions. We do not recommend this variant for the month of August, despite the fact that the route is near the Cardeña and Cardiel rivers.
The specialty of Comercial Caravaning is the close relationship with our clients. You can come check it out at Comercial Caravaning in Alcorcón, very close to Madrid, Móstoles, Leganés... Very close to TI (experts in caravans, motorhomes and campers in the south of Madrid).
