The Vía Verde Vegas del Guadiana begins at the Villanueva de la Serena train station. From this station, paired with the train tracks, the continuous stretch formed by José Gallardo Street and Castel... (plus +)

The Vía Verde Vegas del Guadiana begins at the Villanueva de la Serena train station. From this station, paired with the train tracks, the continuous stretch formed by José Gallardo Street and Castelar Walkway extends towards the water tanks that supply drinking water to the town and the Ronda de la Hispanidad. Next to the overpass of the road to Don Benito (Ronda de la Hispanidad), the Madrid-Badajoz railway and the Villanueva de la Serena-Talavera railway, whose construction was never completed, diverge. Marked with the milestone of km 1, this point, which has a rest area, is the beginning of the greenway and here it acquires its character. Km. 2.3 Leaving Villanueva de la Serena behind, the greenway takes a right turn and plunges into a deep, damp, and red railway trench, which upon exiting takes on the appearance of a very long straight line drawn between agricultural fields, orchards, scattered farmhouses, and gleaming chalets. In this section, it crosses the Zújar canal and its parallel path (km 2.3). However, the linearity of the railway layout is interrupted by a wide and compact transverse dirt track (km 5). With the impracticable railway platform filled with weeds ahead, the route leaves the original railway trace, turns right, and continues along this dirt track, sharing with other vehicles an unchanging landscape. Without deviating at any point, the dirt track leads to a second transverse path: the left branch leads to the level crossing with the busy BA-060 road (km 6.3). To avoid any confusion, there are signposts at the junctions. Across the road, the dirt track becomes the paved road that climbs up to the Ventorrillo pass. Here an impressive panorama opens up: the wide course of the Guadiana River split into two water tongues framed by tall eucalyptus trees. Thus, the greenway swiftly descends in search of the Guadiana, with the imposing viaducts already in sight, which, over aesthetic concrete arches clung to robust pillars, cross the great river. The descent and the asphalt end upon reaching the first railway viaduct (km 7), thus reconnecting with the original railway layout. Here also ends the section shared with other vehicles and begins a walk supported by three high viaducts that extends through a high embankment. The almost aerial walk over the Guadiana valley concludes at the underpass under the N 430 road (km 8.2) and gives way to a wide panorama formed only by farm fields. The greenway will soon traverse the homogeneous landscape of the flooded rice fields of Palazuelo and Guadalperales, Special Protection Area for Birds (ZEPA) that displays, depending on the season, green tides swayed by the wind or lands plowed by tractors followed by a flock of storks and herons; an unchanging landscape of flattened horizons that the route crosses like an infinite straight line. That is why every event is celebrated by the senses. At km 9.6, the ruinous Rena station appears, and beyond, its cargo warehouse topped by stork nests, the first of the long list that marks this journey. Beyond the station, the route gains height alongside the aligned fruit trees that extend on both sides and, progressively, becomes the embankment that approaches the bridge over the Gargáligas River (km 10.4), a scene shared by fishermen and birds and where a scientific ringing station is located. At km 13, the overpass of the road leading to the hamlet of El Torviscal, located about 300 m from the greenway, rises; and at km 17 another road overpass appears, after which the curtain of poplars and eucalyptus trees that populate the Ruecas River filters the silhouette of the town of Palazuelo.
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