The long way home
Valencia province section of the Mediterranean Corridor cycle route should be open in 2020
EUROVELO, a project managed by the European cycling federation, has the objective of creating a transnational Europewide cycling network.
It already boasts more than 45,000 kilometres of cycle routes covering all of Europe, and once completed will cover more the 70,000 kilometres.
Valencia regional government has released details of the first phase of work on the Eurovelo route which will pass through the province of Valencia.
Valencia region forms part of the route entitled Eurovelo 8 (Mediterranean Corridor), which is 5,888km in length, and starts in Athens before passing through 11 countries and visiting 23 World Heritage Sites on its way to journey end in Cadíz.
The regional government has revealed that it is investing an estimated €4.7 million in the section running through the province of Valencia, which should be up and running in 2020.
Eurovelo 8 will cover 130 kilometres of the province and will link 35 municipalities stretching from Sagunto to Villalonga, by using the road network, paths, livestock trails and consolidating existing cycling infrastructure.
Valancia province offers a total of 23,000 hotel rooms and emblematic places such as Sagunto castle, the marshlands of Moros and Safor, El Puig monastery, the historic centres of Valencia city and Gandia, Estany lake in Cullera, Albufera natural park, the Safor circle and the protect landscape of the River Serpis.
In total, the planned Eurovelo 8 passes through more than 500 kilometres of the Valencia region, linking 78 municipalities, some of which have been declared as being of historic and artistic interest, in addition to four natural parks.
The second phase of the Valencia stretch of Eurovelo 8, which will incorporate sections of the region’s other two provinces, Alicante and Castellón, is expected to be completed in 2030, with an estimated investment of €6.2 million.