Mountain landscapes and ghost villages

Owners of large four-wheel drive trucks have it tough - most off-road tracks in Europe are not suitable for their heavy, long and wide vehicles. Nevertheless, opportunities to enjoy "weighty" off-road fun are constantly opening up on our continent. For example, in the regions of Soria and La Rioja, both of which belong to the province of Castile and Leon. They are teeming with abandoned mountain villages. And they were once connected by dirt roads. The good news: many of them are still intact and suitable for large off-road vehicles.

Like the track that leads from Fuentes de Magaña to San Pedro Manrique. It winds its way through wooded hills and repeatedly offers beautiful views of the maquis with its green holm and kermes oaks and the garrigue with its colorful rocky heaths. To do this, you leave the N 122 in Matalebreras and reach Fuentes de Magaña after about 20 kilometers. Our truck track branches off to the left two kilometers east of the town. A ten-kilometer-wide gravel track follows. In the – surprise! – still inhabited village of Sárnago, the circular route to the ghost villages of Acrijos and Funtebella branches off to the right. Both are clearly visible from the track, but you can only get there on foot.

Back in Sárnago, we turn right onto the original route and shortly afterwards reach San Pedro Manrique.