Km 0

The blue sea stretching to a broad horizon, the green pastures that carpet the mountainous landscape, and the ochres of the rocky cliffs make this route – despite its shortness – one of the most recommendable in all Vizcaya. A fascinating blend of nature and a mining past, iron and saltpetre.

The Itsaslur Greenway (which if we use the Spanish name of the area rather than the Basque one would be the Campomar Greenway), developed by Muskiz town council runs tight against the western coastline of the town of Muskiz in Vizcaya, between the villages of Pobeña and Kobaron. As the railway was built right on the edge of the cliffs, the normal place to access this Greenway is at either end of it. There are therefore two starting points: the one we consider in this guide, is at the Pobeña car park. This option is not recommended for persons of limited mobility, people with push chairs, skaters or even cyclists: the level of the railway is some 40 m higher than the car park and the only access is via a steep flight of steps. Also Pobeña has another drawback for people who do not use the efficient bus service. Whenever it’s sunny the car park becomes jam packed with the cars of bathers heading for the beach at La Arena. The advantage of starting at Pobeña is that users can prolong their journey along the Piquillo Greenway to the old Piquillo loading facility in the Cantabrian village of Ontón (Castro Urdiales). The two Greenways and the path joining them combine to make 5.2 km of an easy and spectacular cliff-top walk.

The other place to start out on the Itsaslur Greenway is in the vicinity of Kobaron. At the opposite or western end of the route there is the La Juncosa car park, which can be reached by a track which sets off from the village of Kobaron. The main street of this village becomes a broad track which, after leaving the last houses behind, splits into two. The right hand fork goes to the La Juncosa car park and the Itsaslur Greenway (signposted) while the left fork goes to the Piquillo Greenway.

Pobeña is a small coastal village forming part of the town of Muskiz, located on the banks of the mouth of the river Barbadún, at the westernmost end of the broad beach of La Arena. A number of bars and restaurants add their charm to this secluded little village, and you can do very much worse than to sample the delights of Basque gastronomy at their tables. But also, whenever there is the slightest hint of sun, the streets and village square are carpeted with a multitude of terraces where you can raise your spirits and feast your palate.

Opposite Pobeña there is a car park and a large green recreational area with a kiddies’ playground. The ample tarmacked car park serves users of the beach at La Arena. The green area of salt marshes and grassy countryside is bordered by a circular promenade running alongside the Harana tributary and skirting the river Barbadún and the Areño and Pobeña salt marshes which boast a great variety of plant life and where it is possible to see egrets, herons and cormorants. From this promenade you can see, stretching across the Barbadún estuary, some large lumps of rock and cement which are the remains of the supporting pillars of the aerial tramway which used to run from La Orconera (La Arboleda) to the slagheap which used to exist near the mouth of the river. On the far side of the water there is now a large open space which until recently had been home to a number of large fuel tanks.

Further up the valley the horizon is dominated by Petronor or Petroleos del Norte, the largest refinery in Spain. The huge storage tanks, the miles upon miles of pipes which snake like arteries, and the smokestacks illuminating the night sky with their flares are an eerie, impressive sight. Modernity comes with a price. The pretty salt marshes of the Barbadún river have suffered a major industrial impact, but in recent years there has been a firm commitment to recovering them. And not for nothing: on the cliff lined Basque coast, the mouth of the Barbadún river is of singular importance and of great ecological value, so important that it is included in the Catalogue of Spaces and Enclaves of Natural Interest within the Autonomous Community of the Basque Country.

The Pobeña car park is also the starting point of the Itsaslur Greenway, which is well signposted by a tiled panel bearing the words “Paseo Itsaslur” and yellow arrows pointing to the Coastal Way of St James. The narrow concreted trail sets out between buildings on the left hand side and takes us to the foot of a flight of 120 steps built on the remains of a former inclined plane. The steps climb the slope until they surmount the cliffs that delimit the western end of La Arena beach. We make the climb beneath a leafy canopy, a cool and damp tunnel of vegetation, which provides a beautiful contrast to the open countryside of the rest of the journey.

However, the long and steep steps are an obstacle for persons of reduced mobility and cyclists not strong enough to carry their cycles. The only help is the existence of a sort of gully at the side to make pushing your bike easier.

Once this slope has been overcome, we reach the flat Greenway proper, where a few steps long its route reward us for our previous effort. After passing through a shady, curved cutting, the Itsaslur Greenway embarks on a section which is sculpted into the cliff wall of El Bordal, from where there is a vertical drop to the sea. This privileged viewing balcony affords us magnificent aerial views over the La Arena beach. The cove of Muskiz appears to be enclosed between two magnificent rocky margins upon which the sea unleashes all its virulence. At the one end is the cliff upon which our Greenway clings; at the other is the Punta Lucero, a massive outcrop of bare rock which rises sharply to a height of 300 metres above the sea. From where we are we can see its best preserved side. Behind it has suffered from the ravages of modernity. The breakwater of the port of Bilbao projects into the sea from its northern end.

Brimming with sea views and breezes, we reach a fork in the trail (km 0.8). At this point we can either go round the mineral ore loading facility of the former mining company Mac Lennan to the right, or follow the main route to the left.

Km 1

The concreted path goes round the rusty complex of disused bunkers and canals built into the Campomar hillside which leads to the loading facility sited at the Punta del Castillo. The old Campomar loading facility used to boast a fabulous cantilevered metal arm which extended over the sea so as to tip the ore directly into the ships’ holds. Now only the cyclopean stepped platform built of masonry and cement which used to support the metal arm survives. The loading arm itself fell victim to one of the worst gales in living memory. The remains of the coastal loading facility at Campomar are of considerable value as an example of our industrial heritage, since it was the first to be built in Bizkaia and the only one which loaded ore onto ships on the open sea. Its location on the coastline, without the protection of an estuary of a port make it a unique case. In Bizkaia there were as many as 23 loading facilities on the Nervión estuary but only one on the open sea. In neighbouring Cantabria, the Dicido cantilever loading arm at Castro Urdiales is still in a perfect state of preservation.

Some steps built tight against a strong wall go around the other mineral ore bunker and climb up to a square, which provides a magnificent viewing point with a panel of tiles which tell us about the mining activity in the area.

A concreted path takes over from the steps and takes us from the viewing point back to the main route. Once again a single trail, the Greenway continues its journey through pastureland, leaving the cliffs behind for a short while. To our right the land heads out into the sea like a rocky arrowhead. At Punta del Castillo Viejo, the northernmost point in the area, there is a small ruined building which in olden times formed part of the coastal defences. A path leads to the cliffs at the very tip of the promontory where the views are impressive.

Above Punta del Castillo Viejo the green pasturelands extend up the mountainous slopes of Campomar, at the top of which are the ruins of what was a great ore washing plant, complete with its corresponding offices, housing and workshops. Further information about this washing plant is to be found in the section entitled “History of the Railway”.

The Itsaslur Greenway rejoins the cliffs again where another typical activity of this area used to take place. An information panel about the gathering and use of seaweed brings us up to speed. Next to the trail, to our right, we can see close up the pulleys which until not so very long ago were used to pull these “marine greens” up the cliffs.

As we leave the Punta del Castillo Viejo behind, the path returns to the cliff top at a spot called El Aspra which affords us magnificent views of the coastline. On the horizon we can spot a number of large ships, while on the St James Way we can see pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. With panoramic views of the Basque Country behind us, we now look towards the west, towards the Cantabrian coast. In the hazy distance we can see the port and city of Castro Urdiales, while beneath our feet are the cliffs down which the murky water from the Campomar ore washing plant used to flow. After the washing process the waste water would be returned to the Cantabrian sea, laden with silt and clay. Later we will reach a small rest area comprising a water fountain and several benches. From here we follow a steep path which zigzags down to La Juncosa beach, a small pebbled cove frequented by divers.

Km 2,2

At the fork we can also go for the left hand option. Following the path of the old railway to Campomar we reach the village of Kobaron, passing by the calcining kilns of the Mac Lennan mining company on the left, and on the right the lunar landscape left behind by the workings of the mining sites of El Hoyo and Kobaron. The two truncated cone shaped calcining kilns were built in the late 19th century to remove carbon dioxide and water from the ore. The mining operations left a legacy of two deep craters. The hole left by the Amalia Vizcaína workings has been filled in with earth but not so that of the Caledonia mine. Our day finishes with the gastronomic delights of the restaurants and terraces of the village of Kobaron.