Random question on a lazy afternoon

[jungleboy]

If you walked the Viejo from Pamplona to Aguilar de Campoo to join the Olvidado, and then later joined the Salvador at Buiza, that would only give you about 172km / 7 stages on the Olvidado itself. Would that be 'enough' Olvidado or would it be a shame to miss out on the stages before Aguilar and after Buiza? I have the impression that this middle section is the best of the Olvidado's mountain stages anyway, so maybe it is enough. Thoughts?

Or maybe a better way to put it: to reach Aguilar de Campoo, is the 'better route' (in the eye of the beholder, obviously!) the Olvidado from Bilbao or the Viejo from Pamplona?

 

[davejsy]

I would guess the Olvidado purely because the mountains and landscape between are simply beautiful.

 

[LTfit]

Since I haven't walked the Viejo (yet) I can't compare but one advantage in joining the Olvidado in Aguilar de Campoo is that you miss most of the poor signage during some of the stages before.

The mountain stages on the Olvidado were challenging but well worth the effort. I didn't go through Buiza but rather followed Ender's Wikiloc tracks (Enderjace) through Pola de Gordon.

I'll got a thread with fotos of my stages from June/July 2023 called I'm off again.

 

[peregrina2000]

I haven’t walked the Viejo yet either (hoping for 2025!), but in terms of the Olvidado, I think the most spectacular part comes after Aguilar rather than before. Don’t get me wrong, there are beautiful stages on the first part (and some exceptional romanesque churches near Villasana de Mena as well as Baños de Cervato which is really something else), The one thing I think would be really quite spectacular is going off-route a km or two to visit Ojo de Guareña. Which I didn’t do last time, because my walking partner did not like detours. For me it would not be so much about the caves, but about the church that is built into the rock face.

And the first 40 km or so are pretty much all bidegori/via verde, which is not my favorite walking surface.