Route 4: Puente, Barásoain and Artajona

Type: Gravel

In the heart of Navarra we have hundreds of kilometers of good roads to trace gravel routes.

Roads generally in good condition that we will alternate with some asphalt sections, although in this case this surface does not represent a very high percentage of the total. The start we do it giving everything in the passage through the town of Mendigorria that leads to the Arga river walk that connects to Puente la Reina, a walk that will soon have its own walkway to overcome the Barranco de Nekeas (now we must take a path under the road bridge). Once we reach Puente, we enter the Nekeas area until we reach the western part of Valdorba with its typical landscape of holm oak groves and crop fields. On the way back to the campsite we pass the town of Artajona passing very close to the Cerco. A route that also allows us to access villages with history and charm.

Technical data sheet

Type: GRAVEL

Distance: 56,2 km.

Accumulated positive vertical drop (according to IBP index): 947 m.

Difficulty (IBP index): 52

PHYSICAL DIFFICULTY: MEDIUM

To define the physical difficulty of the routes we have used the IBP index.IBP index is an automatic rating system that scores the physical difficulty of a route ridden on a mountain bike, road bike or gravel bike. This index is very useful to know the degree of physical difficulty of different routes by comparing them with each other.It is important not to confuse the degree of physical difficulty of a route with the effort it will take to complete it: an IBP index of 60 will be a very hard route for an uninitiated person, normal for someone with average preparation and very easy for a professional.In our case, we have taken as a reference a normal physical preparation to assess the physical difficulty of the routes.

TECHNICAL DIFFICULTY: EASY

For this section there is no mathematical formula that gives us a number, so the assessment is based on knowledge gained from experience.

We have defined the technical difficulty in 3 levels:

– Green color: simple. There is no notable technical difficulty on the route.

– Blue color: medium. We can find areas that present some technical difficulties. In the case of gravel routes, these will be areas with steep uphill or downhill slopes on non-compacted soil, sections of trail or soil in poor condition. In the case of MTB routes, they may be uphill or downhill sections of trail with some complicated passages, due to the state of the terrain or because they are natural trails with a very damaged floor. In both cases, these sections represent a small percentage of the total length of the route.

– Red color: difficult. In both gravel and MTB we find complicated areas such as those defined in the blue color, but with greater frequency and intensity.On road routes the technical difficulty will always be green, but if the ground is wet or there are ice slabs present, the situation will change completely.