Children’s Route 14
Route published by Pedro Pablo Uriarte “15 circular routes from Gorliz for families with children”
View map of the route on Wikiloc
FILE OF THE ROUTE:
Duration : 2 hours and 37 min
Distance: 6,38 km
Cumulative elevation gain: 174 m
Difficulty: Easy
Today is a very cloudy day and it rained tonight, so I will surely find mud on some stretch of this new route that I intend to record and describe to thicken this “Guide to the 15 Gorliz Routes for Families with Children”. It is a simple walk in which we pass some section already treaded on other routes but with new ones, since the new sections always give the routes specificity and personality.
I put to record on my mobile the route on Wikiloc at the final roundabout of Iberre Zeharbide. From there I approach the nearby Iberreta square and cross it to its highest part to go up Tribiñu kalea until I turn right on Ageo. Ageo Street as such, ends in a cemented track that goes under the trees and passes by a couple of chalets. When the cemented track turns to the left, the road to Sartxaga continues straight ahead. I’ve always said this stretch is beautiful. On the right we have the burrows and hamlets of Saratxaga with a herd of cows grazing nearby. The sound of the shearing of the cows gives a bucolic touch to the gait. We go under the trees next to a fence that separates the path from the pastures. At some point it seems that we entered a tunnel walking under the branches of oaks (see photo above).
We arrive shortly to Saratxaga next to the old brewery and take the small road that starts in front of its entrance and that serves the few hamlets and houses in the area. Immediately, at the height of a large uninhabited house with several signs on the side of the road that say “Private property and No Trespassing”, the road turns to the right to become a wooded road that soon reaches a crossroads. Turn left, along the track that climbs next to some vineyards lined up to a chalet. The track continues uphill on a steep slope and cemented only on the part of the wheels of the cars.
We arrived at its highest point at another junction. We must continue straight ahead, along a visible path that enters the eucalyptus grove (in the photo). There is a white arrow on a eucalyptus tree indicating the direction. If we go to the right shortly we would reach the main road of Mungia. .
Once inside the eucalyptus, the wide and heavily trodden path, especially by mountain bikes, leads to the Orabille-Andraka road, very close to the entrance to the Goiko Mendi riding school. I go up the road turning right at the junction and reach the highest part and now I just have to follow it to reach Andraka in about a kilometer.
When I reach Andraka I cross the main road to Mungia and pass by the restaurant Andraka on my right. Between the restaurant and the chapel, another road goes down. I’ll get her. I pass several well-maintained hamlets and chalets until the road curves to the left and goes down a little. On the left there is a fence with goats under the trees, and on the right there are large pastures with cattle closed by a fence and an electric shepherd, jealously guarded by a huge mastiff that will accompany us with intimidating barking for almost a hundred meters until the next detour, which is the critical point of today’s route. For some time now we have been walking along a branch of the GR 280, the Great Route of Uribe Kosta, and we will continue along it.
In a sharp bend to the right front, something hidden under the trees and signposted with a red-and-white sign in a wood, a very clear path that is the one we are going to follow. From now on, until you reach the path of the estuary of Plentzia towards Butron, we will descend along a path that can be described as uncomfortable at the very least.
It is a relatively short stretch that today has become even more uncomfortable due to the rains last night that have made a part of the clay road slippery. To this is added the profuse lateral vegetation with some intimidating brambles that I bend with the canes. There are GR signs on some of the trees of the path (pictured) and I don’t understand how a GR path can be so abandoned. A brushcutter would solve the problem from the root. In short, being as it is currently this stage I do not recommend going down here with very young children. However, it is the most mountainous and wildest part of the entire route today, and it is definitely worth visiting. I usually encourage people to dare to know other paths other than the most common and frequented ones. This stretch is one of them..
If a family wants to avoid this stretch, the alternative is: once you go up the Orabille-Andraka road through the eucalyptus valley, instead of turning right, turn left, until you reach the road at the beginning of the Larrakoetxe restaurant fence. A few meters before, there is a trail to the left that we have followed several times and that goes down to Saratxaga, right next to the old brewery. We can go back to town the way we came
But let’s continue, little by little the trail ends in the path of the estuary that leads to the Castle of Butrón (see route 11 of Gorliz for families with children). There we turn right and continue along this very tread road, a part of it next to the estuary (photo next door). After a while and after a discreet climb we reach Mandañu bidea, next to the Koala nurseries. There we turn a little to the left and immediately to the right to go down the aforementioned road towards the district of Gandia. In a very comfortable and quiet descent I reach the stone fountain called Leontxuneko Iturria (the fountain of Leontxune). I went before the workshops of Curvados Urduliz, an area where there used to be a teapot, hence its name, called Telleria.
I continue straight ahead along the beautiful road of Gandia Bidea, all lined with chalets, to the roundabout of Plentzia, turning right to go up the Kautela bidea, which is actually the main road BI–2120 and which is now beautiful for the blooming “Jupiter trees”, which are full of pink flowers. To get to Gorliz I just have to climb to the next roundabout and then to the big roundabout of the Mungia road, to reach the village passing in front of the Sagastikoetxe industrial estate and the cemetery. At the roundabout of the boat I turn left and I reach Iberre Zeharbide from where I left.
Relatively short route, a little more than 10 km, with a slight positive difference in altitude, easy to follow by the children but with a rather complicated and uncomfortable stretch very wild, very mountainous and very interesting to know. Organisations involved in the maintenance of GRs should clean up the stretch.
