Km 0

The municipality of Atxondo or “by the crag”, a reference to the rocky Anboto Peak, is made up of scattered country houses and the villages of Axpe, Arrazola and Apatamonasterio. As we go through Apatamonasterio on the BI-4332 road, to our right we pass the town hall, the church of San Pedro, and the pelota court; and on our left, opposite the pelota court, there is a little square with a thick-trunked tree. Ziarreta street runs from that square to a recreation area fitted with benches, a fitness circuit and a water fountain, situated next to the shady tunnel of walnut trees, alders, maples and ashes through which the river Arrazola flows. This is where the Arrazola Greenway starts, a Greenway developed by the Provincial Council of Vizcaya.

From the recreation area a concrete bridge crosses the river and if we look upstream we are rewarded with a pretty view of a weir and a Mediaeval-looking arched bridge. On the opposite bank a number of paths head off: to the left a track signposted as a Long Distance Route (GR); straight ahead, the trail of the old railway which runs straight and flat between green meadows.

After a brief journey through meadowland we come across the river once again, under the shade of the slender plane trees, alders and ashes which shelter it. River and railway continue their idyll side by side for a few more metres under a dome of hazels and willows. But on leaving the “tunnel” of vegetation the rail bed, seeking a straighter route, abandons the company of the river and moves towards the mountainside which rises up sharply on the left. Our eyes are drawn up the mountainside, attracted by the leafy vegetation. From the strip of oaks, alders and ashes which define the lower edge, a dense pine forest extends upwards to the Memaia peaks. Further on the Greenway runs along the left hand side of the broad water meadow, an area of open ground affording impressive views of the pine covered hills on the right which precede the sharply rising mountain range which extends to the north east from its highest peak, the Anboto (1,331 m).

At km 0.8, tall plane trees line and give shade to the trail, announcing that we are nearing Marzaa or Marzana. This, the most important district of Atxondo, has a central open space shaded by tall lime trees, surrounded by the church of San Martín, several large houses, and a renaissance tower dating from the 16th century. There is an elegant water fountain where travellers can quench their thirst and it’s worth taking a stroll around this district to enjoy the secluded old buildings and the Etxezarra country house, whose gothic door originally came from the Marzana tower. With regard to the railway, Marzana used to have a loading platform serving the mines further up the hill.

After leaving Marzana behind, the Arrazola Greenway rejoins the meadowland on the left bank of the river, crosses the BI-4332 road, and continues between green hay meadows, before passing by a recreational area (km 1.3) with toilets, picnic tables and games for the kids to enjoy.

Km 1,6

After crossing the tree-lined river and its fresh woody trail for the second time (km 1.6), the broad Arrazola valley narrows. The steep slopes of the Imietamendi hill (348 m) gradually throttle the valley until it takes on the appearance of a narrow gully. In such a narrow defile the Greenway starts to climb slightly more steeply alongside a constricted water course which now spills rapidly downstream in a series of sonorous, sparkling cascades under a leafy canopy of alders.

Km 2,1

When we emerge from the defile (km 2.1) we enter once more a broad green valley, now dotted with stone built country houses steeped in years, hemmed in between the Memaia forest and the limestone peak of the Anboto. Next the trail rises on a curved embankment to cross the stream bed which passes through Axpe, a village which nestles in the valley. The artificial heights of the embankment, built to flatten out the route of the railway, serves as a magnificent viewing point over the valley. Once across the stream bed, the Greenway crosses the road to Axpe where there used to be a level crossing. Here travellers have the opportunity to turn left up the road to visit the chapel and the district of Santiago, where some good restaurants attest to the fame of Basque gastronomy.

Back on the Greenway, the climb starts to get steeper and is cut into the steep valley side on the right, at some height above the left bank of the river This section affords a broad panoramic view of the valley with its scattered country houses, and also provides cool in the summer months and, later in the year, the autumnal colours of the hazels, oaks, pines, chestnuts and alders which line the route. The elevated trail continues along a high and long embankment leading to a bridge over the BI-4332 (km 3) road, at the entrance to the village of Arrazola. The bridge, where we can quench our thirst at a conveniently placed water fountain, affords us an exceptional view of the San Miguel bell tower and the Urrutia country house (16th century), one of the oldest in Bizkaia given its gothic-renaissance origins.

This bridge over the road is also the best place from which to appreciate the east side of the Anboto, its steepest side, in all its majesty. On this side is the “Anbotoko Mari” cave, legendary home of the Lady of Anboto, a goddess from Basque mythology who personifies mother earth. Legend has it that Mari likes to be in her cave, decorated with gold ornaments and precious stones, untangling her long locks with her golden comb. She has a habit of snatching disobedient young girls whom she keeps for seven years while they learn to spin. And she can change her form at will: sometimes she appears as a tree with a human face, sometimes as a woman with the legs of a goat and the claws of a bird of prey.

Km 3,5

The Greenway skirts the environs of the town of Arrazola, high up on the steep hillside, above the tower and the Ibarra mill (18th century), the machinery of which still survives. Then it says goodbye to this town between attractive orchards, passing by the Ollargane country house, whose facade bears the name Pedro de Albayalde and the year 1519, the oldest date inscribed in stone in Bizkaia.

At the end of this stretch, the rail bed once again crosses the river Arrazola and arrives at the San Roque chapel (km 4.5), just before the head of the Arrazola valley. Shaded by tall hundred year old plane trees, there are some benches next to the chapel, as well as a water fountain and an ample car park used by the patrons of the restaurant situated on the other side of the road, in the impressive Makatzeta country house. The popular chapel of San Roque features a shrine with the typical screen of wooden bars through which the effigy of the saint can be seen. A sung mass is held in the chapel as well as a ‘romería’ (pilgrimage) for San Roque, although in times gone by the chapel was also used on San Gregorio (May 9), to bless the water which would then be poured on the land to improve the harvest of fruits and vegetables.

From the chapel there is a clear view of the “Ojo de Bentaneta”, a karstic cavity produced by the action of water on the limestone rock of the Anboto Peak. They say that when the sun sets, the Sun King still gives Atxondo a present of the last ray through that hole in the rock.

The trail reaches the final and wildest part of its route. After the San Roque chapel the Greenway plunges into the gorge forming the head of the Arrazola valley, squeezed between the pasture land that climbs towards the Anboto Peak and a steep hillside covered by a leafy woodland of ash, acacia, alder, birch, pine and walnut, which also give shade to the traveller.

With such little space, the Greenway and the crystalline river run side by side until they reach Errotabarri or El Tope station (km 5), in the vicinity of which are the remains of some calcining kilns and a small mining settlement. From the old station, rebuilt from its ruins to house a recreation area with toilets, picnic tables and a water fountain, the more inquisitive of you can prolong your excursion along the forest track which plunges deeper into the Arrazola ravine and, half a kilometre further up, takes you to the abandoned mines from which iron and copper was extracted until 1920.