Hiking in la Sierra de Madrid

This is a list of our walks in the Sierra de Madrid. You can download the GPX data for all these walks together.

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Contents


Fuente de la Campanilla

On 3 June (2012) with Elena's parents.

The fountain of the bell lies in the woods of Navacerrada in the Sierra de Madrid. It has a bell which people ring before drinking the icy cold water from the mountains.

It turned out to be the last walk of Onyx, our terrier, who passed away one month and one week later. As one can see from these pictures, although 14 years old and a half, he remained healthy till the end, in fact, till the very last day.

El Cerro de San Pedro

On 6 October (2013).

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The Cerro de San Pedro is a landmark of the Sierra de Madrid, as it stands alone from the rest of the chain of mountains from the Sistema Central. Its small height and spread out distribution makes it an easy hike. It affords splendid views of the north of Madrid, being so close, and of the rest of the Sierra, around it. After hiking it, we passed by Guadalix de la Sierra and Soto del Real.

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Sierra de Hoyo de Manzanares

On 13 October (2013), with Tizón. We did not expect much from this little patch of Sierra, far from the mighty Pedriza. But it exploded all our expectations. It was very quiet, we met nobody there, and the views and feels are about as grandiose as those of the most famous spots in the Sierra de Madrid. We also had a nice view of the Palace of Canto del Pico, with its strange architecture, even at a distance, and made famous as a residence of Franco.

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Abedular de Canencia

On 27 October (2013), with Elena's parents and Tizón.

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Fp.laussy.jpgThe third route was the first from a book of scenic routes in the Sierra, bought by Elena en marge of a manifestation in Madrid, and the first with Inma & Julio. We quickly realized that it was bringing us to the Chorrera de Mojonavalle which we had visited back in July 2008 with Daniele and where I almost killed myself, slipping while climbing the waterfall (?!) The choice of a wood was motivated by Autumn, and we headed for this popular location where birch trees (abedules) mix with pine trees. It had rained a lot the previous days, and many mushrooms enthusiasts were passing by with full baskets. So abundant were the Boletus edulis that we also found enough ourselves for the supper. Another unexpected encounter was with the Spanish celebrity Dani Mateo who was enjoying family moments hiding in a cap that could not however also conceal his peculiar voice (and who tried to climb the waterfall in very much the same foolish and dangerous way I did in 2008).

Along the Manzanares

On 1 November (2013). With Elena's parents and Tizón.

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This is very close from Tres Cantos and Colmenar, and again is an area of unsuspected beauty, suitable for shorter walks.

The Yelmo

On 7 December (2013). With Tizón.

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The Yelmo is the highlight of la Pedriza. This area is so beautiful, we hardly dare to go. Each walk in the area is replete of adventures, overwhelming feelings and time pressure. This was no exception as we could not complete the loop and had to take a taxi to bring us back to our starting point.

La Pedriza

On 20 March (2014). With Carlos Sanchez, Blanca Silva, Juan Pablo Restrepo, Guillermo Guirales, Camilo López-Carreño, William Júnio Lima, David Colas, Dmitrii Vishnevskii, his wife Irina and their friend Olga, and of course, Tizón.

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El Cerro de San Pedro, in the springtime

On 17 May (2015), with Julia and Tizón.

It had been a long time, well over a year, since our last hike in the Sierra de Madrid, due to our Madrilean year. To get it on track again, we returned to the Cerro de San Pedro, which is an outstanding hike with a terrific view of a good portion of the Comunidad de Madrid. It is also our opening walk of this series, and we went the both of us. This time, we were accompanied by Julia and our little dog.

Hayedo de tejera negra

On 7 November (2015). This was before Fabrice's trip to Bruxelles for the European Union. We went there for the autumnal palette but had apparently missed the narrow window of optimum colours by a few weeks, as the woods were all mourning already, but the mountains were splendid. They never fail to impress.

The snow in Castilla y León

On 17 January (2016), we went with Isabel and Camilo (also with Elena's parents, Tizón, ourselves and Julia) to the mountains, with a specific aim: to meet the snow, a first time for Isabel & Camilo (Julia got close enough in Auvergne in March (2015) but this basically was a first experience for her too as she was so tiny earlier; in fact she still has occasions to discover the snow for the first time!). There has been little snow in Europe this year, so we had to go a bit far, to the frontier of the Comunidad de Madrid, at its meeting point with Castilla y León.

Garganta de los Montes

On 18 June (2016), with Elena's parents and Tizon, we went to the mountain that sits behind the Cabrera, of which it affords a splendid, if not unfamiliar, view. It is largely forgotten from tourists and hikers so that you can enjoy a peaceful stroll among cows wandering freely and, in our case, even a flock of goats guarded by two half-savage dogs who galloped towards us as we reached the top. This reached a moment of extreme tension as they chased Tizon and captured him for a few seconds of extreme shock as it wasn't clear if they were not going after his life. Despite the horror, me jumping onto the dog (harming my leg in the way), Inma's shouting in shock, it so appeared they wanted to play with him as he was unharmed (he got the scare of his life and the moaning he made when he got caught, unable to escape the much faster dogs, appeared to all of us as that of a prey being murdered). Thankfully, all went well and we could complete the tour with only a good fright.

Hoyo de Manzanares: Cruz del Pan

On 12 October (2017), with Elena's parents and Tizon, Elena and Julia (without Fabrice) went to Hoyo de Manzanares to do the circular walk of Cruz del Pan. It took them around 3-4 hours because Julia was walking around 50% of the track.

La Bola del Mundo

On 26 August (2018), with Camilo.

The alto de las Guarramillas is better known as the "bola del mundo" by Madrilenes, due to the old Spanish TV displaying in its announcements the antennas that crowns the top of the mountain on a stylized globe. It affords a rare view of the Communidad de Madrid, with Manzanares el Real, Colmenar Viejo, Tres Cantos and Madrid all lined up (you can get an idea of this view from one of our panoramas). This is a special spot for us as this is the view we have from our breakfat terrace in Montecito.

It is an easy (7.8km) hike from the Puerto de Navacerrada till the top and back, on a fully paved road, which decided us to attempt it in the last days of recovery of Fabrice's surgery (we used to walk round Tres Cantos before that). Since Fabrice couldn't carry Julia, this is also the first mountain excursion she fully completed on her own! It took us 1h30 to the top, going slowly. We spent another one hour there, marveling at the view with a snack. It was thrilling to identify our flat from so far away (29.5km in a straight line). We missed the Ventisquero de la Condesa, which is the birthplace of the Manzanares, that was a few hundred meters away but a fact we discovered only afterward. It was another hour to go down. The day ended with a nice dinner at the Terraza Jardin Felipe in Navacerrada.Bola-mundo-trajectory-aug18.jpg

La cascada del Hervidero

On 9 September (2018), with Camilo.

There are several waterfalls (cascada) in the Sierra, which give you the occasion of bathing in summer time. One of the most interesting waterfalls is quite close from home, in San Agustín del Guadalix.

Ducha de los Alemanes

On 15 September (2018), with Camilo and Elena's parents.

The highlight of this walk in the Valle de la Fuenfría was a waterfall, the shower of the Germans, called like this because German hikers liked to bathe in the pool, a tradition we found easy to honour as this segment of the trip was met with heavy rains.

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Other interesting cascades include:

  • Poza de Sócrates y cascadas de las Guarramillas
  • Cascada de la Presa del Pradillo

El Caliz de La Pedriza y Peña Horcajo

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On 2 January (2019). Our first excursion of the year, on one less-regarded side of the Pedriza, with one highlight: El Caliz. We had selected it facil from Wikiloc, but once there, it turned out to be quite challenging. We could not close the loop through the wild vegetation as the path was regularly being lost in the rocks which were seldom making it possible to cut through, and we had one hour left of light, so we went all the way back (carrying Julia on the backpack to walk fast although she managed all the way up alone and would certainly have been able to complete the walk with enough time left). This is a great excursion that affords splendid views of the Pedriza and el Caliz is a unique boulder formation, changing shape and character from every directions (I named my computer after it). We also spotted the magnificent rock el Tolmo sitting between two mountains, to which we will return to pat it.

Puerto de la Morcuera y la Najarra

The only walk in the Sierra de Madrid if you can make only one! A 8.78km loop in a bit less than 7 hours (but only half moving), otherwise easy but with breathtaking, emblematical and varied views of the mountain range of the sistema central.

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Icon gpx.jpgDownload the gpx file for this track. In cyan, the main walk; in yellow, our first attempt the day before (Julia and Fabrice's going up and down & back and forth):
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On 13 June (2020), with Julia, Luz, Elena and Fabrice.

This one was special as our first big excursion following confinement (last before that was the Caer Caradoc in the Shropshire hills). We made two attempts. The first one, on Saturday the 13th, with a direct climb to the Najarra, was unsuccessful as we lost track of each other in the first big rock formation, where Julia and Fabrice were bouldering, while Luz and Elena were taking a path round, which led to the two groups disconnecting. The hiking was more challenging than we thought and we got defeated so we got back home. It was also the first time we got campercita out and all the camper-part was down, for some battery problem. Despite sore muscles due, for instance, for Fabrice getting all the way back down to the car and up again when not finding anyone here, part of which carrying Julia, we decided not to take this incident for a no, and returned. The next day. Morcuera13jun20-2.jpg

So, on 14 June (2020), this time also with Inma and Tizon, and going the other way around, that is, the gentle slop as an ascent and the sharp one as a descent (definitely the one we recommend), also starting slightly earlier (still very late by our hiking standards, c.~14:00), we finally completed the walk which, to our surprise, turned out to be, indeed, not difficult (it had been chosen for that) although not fully trivial in parts (see the images) but also, more importantly, truly outstanding with unique views on the cuerda larga, la Pedriza, la Cabrera, Madrid itself (!?), Tres Cantos (!?), etc., which makes this walk the one we'd recommend if you have only one to make in the area. View of Montecito (our Tres Cantos flat), shown by an arrow, from the Collado de la Najarra. We are behind the first line of buildings, so we don't have a direct view to these mountains.
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View of Madrid from the Collado de la Najarra.
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To do

  • Las dos hermanas (coto)
  • mas de la Pedriza
  • La cresta de la Cabrera
  • Cabeza de Hierro (menor & major)
  • la Maliciosa

Links