Five routes and more than 100 kilometres to enjoy the Vega Baja by bicycle

Bicycle riders now have five more cycling routes covering more than 100 kilometres with which to enjoy the Vega Baja.

The itineraries cover 16 municipalities, showing 50 points of interest between Azarbes, irrigation channels and waterwheels to discover the traditional irrigation system and the culture of water in the region, as well as the crop fields and the diversity of the landscape.

The cycling routes, which have required design, planning and signposting work, audiovisual information material and a virtual tour for each of the routes with 360º images have been produced, and have required an investment of around €150,000.

The 120 kilometres that make up the five cycle-tourist routes allow you to soak up the smells and colours of the crop fields, observe the diverse landscape of the Vega Baja and its environmental value and visit around fifty points of interest.

The five new routes are:

Sotos del Segura

The path crosses the municipalities of Daya Vieja, Daya Nueva, Almoradí, Formentera de Segura, Benijófar and Rojales.

Along more than 21.35 kilometres, it allows the enjoyment of both the Segura river groves and the Vega Baja orchards, a culturally green landscape featuring an important hydraulic heritage, as well as elements of the historical and cultural heritage of these municipalities.

The itinerary through the groves of the Segura River discovers how the water is distributed through the system of Azarbes, ditches, waterwheels and other hydraulic infrastructures for irrigation, and is accompanied by the intense smell of citrus orange blossom and the mosaic of shapes and colours of vegetables and vegetables.

The Azarbes

With 28 kilometres that pass through the municipalities of Bigastro, Orihuela, Callosa de Segura, Rafal and Catral, it runs along paths and sidewalks next to Azarbes and ditches, some of the most relevant elements of the region’s traditional irrigation hydraulic system, and It accompanies the intense orange blossom smell of citrus and the mosaic of shapes and colours of vegetables.

The Almarjales

A route of more than 30 kilometres that passes through the municipalities of Orihuela, Callosa de Segura, Granja de Rocamora, San Isidro and Catral, along paths between hills and palm trees, through soils of Almarjales, reeds and salt marshes.

The itinerary runs through urban areas and orchards next to irrigation channels and irrigation ditches, some of the most relevant elements of the traditional hydraulic irrigation system of the region, identifying it as an area of great landscape diversity, the result of a process of transformation of the marshlands into cultivated areas.

The Canals

This circular route links the municipalities of Catral and Dolores for more than 13 kilometres, showing the landscape and environmental values of the El Hondo Natural Park and the traditional market gardens of the Vega Baja.

The route runs along paths and environments where there has been an important transformation of the landscape throughout history, thanks to the colonisation of a large part of the wetland surface that has reached our days and converted into a productive and fertile orchard.

Las Veredas

This path runs through the municipalities of Catral, Dolores, Daya Nueva, Daya Vieja, San Fulgencio and Guardamar del Segura for more than 26 kilometres.

The protagonists are the traditional market gardens and the Segura River, which is the ecological corridor between the mouth of the river and the El Hondo Natural Park. Water is a constant along the entire route, adopting different forms in ditches, irrigation channels and ditches that continue to give life to the ancient marsh Sinus Ilicitanus, currently represented in the El Hondo Nature Park.

This environment becomes a privileged setting for bird watching at any time of the year: migrants, wintering, breeding, and wanderers.

Depending on the season, it is possible to observe from the usual cattle egret to the common moorhen, the only breeding ibis in Europe, as well as golden plovers or sandpipers, booted eagles and marsh harriers, which use this mosaic of crops to look for food. It also allows the sighting of other riverside birds up to the mouth of the Segura River itself.