The best traffic-free bike rides around Arancón

After the tough climb, we have beautiful views of both valleys

Small and pretty town, area with lots of interesting mountain bike trails

Magaña Castle is a medieval fortress located on a hill overlooking the town of the same name, in the province of Soria, Tierras Altas region, community of Castilla y León. It is believed to have been built during two stages throughout the 15th century. The inner enclosure would be built in the first stage, and the outer barrier in a second. Due to its architectural characteristics, it belongs to the typology of stately castle of the Valladolid school, very common in the north of Castile in the second half of the 15th century.

The small town of Aldealseñor is home to two impressive heritage gems. On the one hand, there is the Romanesque church of Nuestra Señora de la Blanca, on the other the spectacular palace-tower, built between the 14th and 16th centuries.

Magaña is one of those towns that surprises you greatly the first time you go. It is located on a promontory above the Alhama River valley and at the highest part stands the Nava del Marqués castle, built in the 15th century from a 10th century Berber tower. From the castle wall you can see a beautiful panoramic view of the town, in the foreground the church of San Martín de Tours stands out, built in the 16th century on a Romanesque hermitage.

In Pozalmuro we find the bar closed, we have little to do and a storm is also threatening, we fill the kettles with water and begin the ascent of the Sierra del Madero, the mountain pass of the day to jump the Iberian System and cross the Duero basin to the great valley of the Ebro. The climb is a cycle path with quite a slope, it has some studs to avoid the destruction of runoff and maintain the quality of the surface but they require extra effort on each step. The hard slope ends at an extraordinary viewpoint with signs of the landscape, the views are magnificent. Moncayo (2,314 m) is an imposing mass, the roof of the Soria mountains and the highest peak of the Iberian System. We follow the milestones of the natural path down a descent with a couple of delicate curves for the gravel wheels on the loose stone and then a well-conditioned and fun path in a holm oak forest of great environmental quality. The sky turns into hell and we arrive at the town of Muro when the raindrops turn into hail balls, luckily the bar is open here. In Muro is the site of the Roman city of Augustóbriga and in the bar room they have posters highlighting the notoriety of the place. The Roman town was decisive in the Roman conquest and control of the towns that lived in the mountain slopes of Moncayo. The bad weather is persistent and we decided to finish the stage in Ágreda, an interesting town of three cultures on the slopes of Moncayo. At Hostal Doña Juana they are welcoming and kind to cyclists, even when they arrive soaked and their bikes are muddy. Before dinner there is time to see more towers, palaces, convents, stately homes and stroll through the Moorish quarter, passing through medieval gates with original battlements or in the shape of a horseshoe arch, such as the Puerta del Agua, from the 8th century, the oldest construction of the architectural heritage of Ágreda.

This Roman bridge is part of road 257 that linked Astúrica and Caesaraugusta. It is a beautiful structure with two arches built of ashlar and masonry. The bridge was declared an asset of cultural interest in the province of Soria.

Garray witnesses how the Tera River definitively delivers its waters to the Duero. The Celtiberian city of Numancia was located in this area, whose ruins can be visited and give an idea of the importance of this culture on the peninsula.