Children’s Route 7
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 33 min
Distance: 11,53 km
Cumulative elevation gain: 262 m
Difficulty: Easy
Once again I have to do this simple tour on my own through the outlying areas of Gorliz and Plentzia, of which we have already covered some sections on other routes, but which together form an itinerary with its own personality very suitable for family with children. It has no ascents (we have accumulated only 262 m of ascent) although it is almost 12 km long.
I start the route at Iberreta Plaza and head towards the upper part of Itsasbide by Krutzeta bidea passing by the Plaza del Centro de Salud. Once in Itsasbide I pass by the church and arrive at the roundabout of Armintza, where I turn right into Tribiñu kalea and immediately left into Barberusolo, which continues with Orbeta Street, with an important slope. This slope, which rises next to the gardens of some beautiful chalets, ends at the level of the hamlet of Alegría, which we see close to our left. I continue under the branches of some superb specimens of large oaks to reach immediately a villa that has not been completed for years.
Right there the road forks. Take the path that seems scarcer, the one on the right, which goes through the vegetation and goes for a hundred meters until you reach a bifurcation. I choose the road on the left, which I have already described many times on some routes (the one on the right would take us a few hundred meters down to Saratxaga) and which gently ascends under the oaks to the Orabille-Andraka portfolio.
On this route, follow the road to the right, until you reach a eucalyptus grove located on the right before you reach the Goikomendi Equestrian Club, whose entrance is a little higher. Shortly after the beginning of the eucalyptus, you can see on the right the start of a path between two stakes with white paint. We have to deviate along this path that goes down into the eucalyptus forest and that in a few minutes leaves us at a crossroads. If we continue straight ahead along a wide road that descends next to the fence of a villa we would also reach Sartxaga, but this time the intention is to go left along a wide road that in about five minutes leads to the main road BI–2120 Plentzia–Mungia. At some point in this section you can see Gorliz on the right. We’re very careful crossing the road from the front. And watch out, here comes a critical point on the route.
Indeed, we cross in front and see a small road called Botola bidea that goes down to our left and heads towards the Koala nurseries. But almost right in front of where we have crossed, among the weeds, starts an almost invisible path that enters fully among the thick vegetation. You have to look very carefully, because the entrance to this path is almost invisible, but it exists, and nothing else to take it becomes very obvious ascending at the beginning between the lateral branches. We enter a very beautiful and very little frequented section of today’s route, which will take us to the wide roundabout of the Mungia road next to the Sagastikoetxe industrial estate, just as if we were doing it on the road, but without the danger of road traffic..
The path ascends at the beginning and immediately becomes flat among the weeds of the ground that blurs it, although it can be continued without any problem. The path at the beginning more or less follows the laying of an electric line. Soon we reached a clearing. It’s a small hill called Mandoñuburu. The path continues and we must not lose it, because, tracing a curve, it goes back under the eucalyptus trees to immediately reach another clearing. Here the path veers sharply to the right and becomes a wide path that descends gently among the eucalyptus trees. You can hear near and to our right the noise of traffic on the main road. The forest ends and little by little we pass by the entrance of two meadows, the first with a shed with dogs barking in our path and the second with some greenhouses that can be seen in the background. We continue along a wide tree-lined road with car rounds. The last hundreds of meters we go under the branches of the oaks until we reach the roundabout of Mungia.
I continue along the sidewalk to reach the next roundabout and I go down Kautela bidea, to turn left at the first detour. I make the turn and a few meters further up leaves to the left a small road called Musuaga bidea, which you have to follow for a while until you reach Mandoñu bidea at the height of the workshops of Curvados Urduliz. The road is beautiful, with spectacular views over Plentzia, the estuary and the white pedestrian bridge.
Once in Mandañu, turn left to climb a few hundred meters to the next junction. At this junction the road veers sharply to the left, towards Koala nurseries, and a little further on the road leaves to the castle of Butrón. But this time I don’t want to go in that direction, but at the same junction turn right on a wide road stuck to a very high hedge that flanks a farm. Little by little, this road, which has been thrown on the ground with bricks and remains of building material to secure it, reaches a turn to the right and heads towards a nearby fence with dogs. It is not necessary to go there, but to continue straight ahead, to the right, on a road that continues ahead among eucalyptus trees. It is a wide dirt road that goes down gradually until it becomes a road at the height of a house surrounded by a tall green fence.
The road is called Junkera bidea and the views over this stretch of the estuary are photo. After going straight ahead and passing next to a cowherd, the road goes up a bit to pass next to the walls of a couple of chalets and reach a huge and beautiful old farmhouse called Irabien. Almost in front of its facade and just beyond the house turn to the left for a street called Irak Bine stratum that runs between great villas. We are in the muga between the district Gandia de Plentzia and Gandia de Gorliz.
We follow the road ahead that takes us back to Gandia bidea, to immediately turn left and go down a small alley that leads us to the very edge of the ria, next to a small roundabout. The road passes under the bridge of the main road and makes a loop to return to it. Plentzia looks beautiful from there. As soon as you go up some stairs, right there you take to the left a sandy path that crosses the Gazteluondo Park of Plentzia on the banks of the estuary and passes by the Molino de Mareas of the same name.
We are already next to the bridge of Plentzia and I direct my steps along the promenade of Plentzia that surrounds the city center and reaches the Port and the Shipyard, which I round to continue along the edge of the beach to the PIE (Plentziako Itsas Estazioa) and finish this peri-urban route reaching Iberreta Plaza going up the street Itsasbide of Gorliz.
I have completed a rura specially designed so that families with children can spend a morning kicking paths, roads and paths that surround Gorliz and Plentzia. Too bad I couldn’t do it with my two older grandchildren.
