The Vias Verde (Greenways) of Spain are stretches of disused - or in this case unused - railway track now laid as pathways for walkers, cyclists and horse riders, and to provide a platform for educational, environmental, and tourist activities.

Back in England during the 1980s we lived in the Nottinghamshire town of Bingham, a quiet market town with an unusual leisure feature. The Linear Park is a 2.5km stretch of disused railway line running through gentle countryside and used by local people to relax or walk their dogs. Well, I’ve got news for the good burghers of Bingham: their park has a big brother in the Spanish province of Cadiz. The Via Verde de la Sierra runs for 36km between the towns of Olvera and Puerto Serrano and its offerings are all on a grand scale. Rather than corn buntings and skylarks, ornithologists here study vultures and eagles; instead of silver birch and hawthorns there are vast-girthed ancient oaks and serried ranks of olive trees. The Linear Park wanders its short course through flat, arable farmland; the Via Verde sprawls through mountains and river valleys with the help of great viaducts and tunnels.

The Via Verde de la Sierra
The building of a light railway in support of the region’s agricultural industry which made this Via Verde possible was initiated by the military dictator General Primo de Rivera in 1926. The construction between Almargen and Jerez de la Frontera was paid for by private enterprise but when the dictatorship fell in 1929 the following economic downturn brought the works to an end before the line could be opened. It wasn’t until 1993 that a project to restore the neglected line was instigated and co-ordinated by the Cadiz Council in collaboration with the Andalucian Regional Government and other associations. Then in the year 2000 The Foundation Via Verde de la Sierra was formed. It is a public body drawn from the Provincial Councils of Cadiz and Seville and the Town Halls along the Via Verde’s route which is charged with its conservation, maintenance, and management.

Along its 36 km course the Via Verde de la Sierra boasts 30 tunnels, the longest being the Castillo at 990m; 4 viaducts of which the Coripe at 237m is the most notable; and 5 railway stations, 3 of which at Puerto Serrano, Coripe and Olvera have been restored as hotels. The station at Zaframagon will be opened soon as a Nature information centre and the one at Navalagrulla is scheduled for restoration.
The Antigua Estacion Ferrocarril Hotel at the Olvera end of the Via Verde has bicycles for rent at 9€ for 4 hours and 12€ for the day.

Points of interest along the Via Verde include:
Junta de los Rios: the mouth of the Guadalporcun river where it joins the Guadalete.
Chaparro de la Vega: a great holm oak with an estimated age of 700 years and a girth of 30m. It has traditionally provided shade for the villagers of Coripe during their annual pilgrimage for the fiesta of their patron saint, the Virgen de Fatima. The tree is located a few kilometres south of Coripe.

Chaparro de la Vega
Penon de Zaframagon: a limestone crag of geological importance, this reserve is notably home to a significant colony of Griffon Vultures. The Via Verde runs close to the reserve and can be accessed from Coripe.

Penon de Zaframagon
Ironically, Primo de Rivera’s project is starting to provide an economic boost to the region almost a hundred years after its inception; not, however, in agriculture but through the Via Verde de la Sierra and the increased tourism it has generated.