Bardenas Reales: The Desert in Navarre
Navarre, Spain
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Castildetierra
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300
XP
+100 Spain
= 400 total
1 day
Bardenas Reales: The Desert in Navarre
300 + 100 XP
The Bardenas are badlands in southern Navarre — clay, gypsum and sandstone with almost no vegetation, eroded by water and wind into ravines, flats and isolated cabezos, and traditionally divided into three: El Plano, the Bardena Blanca and the Bardena Negra. The ground is Tertiary and Quaternary material dumped into the Ebro basin when the Pyrenees and the Iberian range rose and closed it off into an inland sea; the sea drained, and the erosion that started then is still going. It was made a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve on 6 November 2000. It looks like nowhere else in Europe and is used constantly as a film location for exactly that reason.
Required Activities
1
of 5
Drive or cycle the tracks through the Bardena Blanca, the central and most desert part of the whole area
2
of 5
Find Castildetierra, the isolated eroded spire that is the single most photographed thing here
3
of 5
Work out the geology: sediment dumped into a closed inland sea as the Pyrenees rose, then drained and eroded ever since
4
of 5
Go up to a mirador on the edge of the plateau and see the whole thing laid out below
5
of 5
Check what the military firing range is doing before you plan a route — part of the Bardenas is still one
Drive or cycle the tracks through the Bardena Blanca, the central and most desert part of the whole area
Find Castildetierra, the isolated eroded spire that is the single most photographed thing here
Work out the geology: sediment dumped into a closed inland sea as the Pyrenees rose, then drained and eroded ever since
Go up to a mirador on the edge of the plateau and see the whole thing laid out below
Check what the military firing range is doing before you plan a route — part of the Bardenas is still one
Before you go
No shade, no water and extreme summer heat. Tracks close after rain because the clay becomes impassable, and a live military firing range occupies part of the area.
Finding nearby campsites...
About Navarre
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Challenge Location
XP Breakdown
Challenge XP
300 XP
Spain country bonus
+100 XP
Potential total
400 XP
Country bonus earned on completion of your first challenge in Spain.
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