Of Resilience and Hope: The Story of Teruel (Video)

Words, photos, and video by Tristan Bogaard

Teruel is one of Spain’s regions that is challenged by depopulation. Within Spain, it’s known as a place where nothing of importance happens. A running joke is that the police is often so bored, they’ll fine you for just about anything in order to have something to do. But in reality, Teruel is a bustling natural environment that is, mostly, left alone to itself.

And, thanks to the work of Ernesto Pastor, a local of Teruel, there’s a large selection of bikepacking routes to explore the nooks and crannies of the region. His most famous route is Montañas Vacías (Empty Mountains), which connects more than 600 kilometers of gravel roads and “forgotten” villages into a cohesive, unique experience.

With “Of Resilience and Hope”, a looped and shorter 255-kilometer route, he attempts to lay bare a similar theme: take the rider through what appears to be an empty, desolate land with villages consisting of but a few inhabitants, showing the cracks in a region that was once an industrial mining powerhouse.

The landscape along this route is largely dominated by farmland and, besides the rolling mountainous scenery you cycle by along the way, one could argue it’s a little dull at first. However, Ernesto’s work reveals that bikepacking shouldn’t just be about landscapes and views, but instead about contribution and recognition, through undertaking the journey.

We camped every night but deeply enjoyed spending what we could at the few open bars and restaurants we found. Chatting with inhabitants of small villages, discovering their history, and showing interest with your presence—that’s exactly what Ernesto hopes will keep this region thriving. As he reinvents Teruel through the act of bikepacking, we remain captivated by his work. And we hope that this video, in which I’ve tried to summarize our experience and the route’s story, will contribute to it.

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ROUTE

Of Resilience And Hope