Terras de Celanova e Serra do Xurés
Day 2 TRAVESÍA MTB CENTER from Maus de Salas to Lobios
Dawn breaks in As Maus de Salas and we get ready to face the second stage of our journey. The baker of Pitôes, a neighboring village in Portugal, comes punctually to his daily appointment and we buy the delicious bread for breakfast.
We say goodbye to the person in charge of the Welcome Point and leave the village towards the Salas Reservoir, pedaling along a stretch shared by routes 3, 4 and 5. In this area there are several examples of the megalithic heritage of the Xurés, so we take the opportunity to visit the dolmen known as "A Casiña da Moura", before turning towards route 4 "Picos de Fontefría". After several kilometers along a forest track and overcoming a technical stretch in the Regato de Lobeira, where we did not want to avoid getting a little wet, we turn off towards route 2 "Travesía do Xurés", at the height of the village of Prado. Now we had a long climb ahead of us, so we decided to stop at a small recreational area to have something to eat.
After four kilometers of ascent we reach Albite, a small livestock village with very narrow streets, which we cross to connect with a downhill path that leads to the only road in this environment. At this point we deviate just two kilometers from our route to visit one of the few albarizas that still exist in the area. The albarizas are small stone enclosures that protect the honey hives against bad weather and animal incursions.
We return to our route and ascend along a path surrounded by large granite boulders, also known as bolos. The descent to A Cela is quite fast and technical. In this village we are surprised by its unique architecture as many of the houses are built under the shelter of the huge stones in the area and some are even cleverly integrated into them.
We continue our route along the road, in the direction of Lobios. We leave on our left the detour to the Pozas del río Mao, a recommended visit but we discarded, as we are a little late. After pedaling a couple of kilometers, we take a detour to the left to the route 7 "Circular de Lobios", towards Puxedo. In this section we meander with our bikes along an old road between stone walls and in the shade of several large chestnut trees. Then we cross the village of Requeixo and face the last part of this section accompanied by the Cabaleiro river, which we cross by a small bridge in A Portaxe.
Finally we arrive at the urban center of Lobios, where we decide to eat something and rest a little before returning to the spa. There we enjoy its thermal pool before saying goodbye to the Sierra de O Xurés.
