Explore the Murcia countryside
THE CREATION of eight new routes for cycling and walking has created a ‘green ring’ of 86 kilometres through the countryside around Murcia.
These connect up with the existing 12 routes and with the cycle paths that are dotted around the city, offering a network of itineraries.
They pass through various rural districts including Espinardo, Puente Tocinos, Torreagüera, Llano de Brujas, Patiño, Barrio del Progreso, Nonduermas and Zeneta.
Councillor for the countryside, Antonio Navarro said this is part of the council’s ongoing efforts to restore paths and rural areas.
“Our objective is to generate spaces which invite contact with nature and would be ideal for taking physical exercise,” he said.
The new routes have been added to those which can already be viewed on Google Maps, along with the links between them and a route called the ‘Anillo de la Huerta de Murcia’ (ring of the Murcia countryside), which has already been viewed more than 200,000 times.
Details of them all can all be consulted on the website http:// huertademurcia.murcia.es/ huertamurcia/rutas/
These include places of environmental and historical interest as well as safety advice.
All the routes have benches installed along them and are signposted with a specific design created for all the public spaces in the municipality’s countryside.
The signposts are made up of a metal structure clad with waxed canes and connected by hand-sewn galvanised rings.
Stuck to these are fluorescent green and transparent methacrylate panels covered with ultraviolet light resistant vinyls that show information in Spanish and English, and in relief so they can be read by people with limited vision. Canes were chosen for the signs because it grows in abundance in the area, it is cheap and helps the circular economy, and blends in perfectly with the landscape, noted the councillor.