← Maratón del Santo Grial·Day trip

Segorbe: Cathedral Town of the Palancia

A small cathedral city a few kilometres down the valley from the Navajas finish, with a level old centre, two medieval towers and a museum of church art, an easy half-day on post-marathon legs.

DurationDay trip
TransitCar or taxi, about 10 minutes from Navajas
DepartsNavajas

After the Maratón del Santo Grial: Segorbe

The Route: Navajas → Segorbe → Navajas Logistics: Car or taxi, about 10 minutes each way. Mostly level streets in the centre, one gentle climb to the towers. Marathon Month: May Duration: Day trip

Navajas ──(about 10 mins by car)──> Segorbe ──(about 10 mins)──> Navajas

The Maratón del Santo Grial ends in the Plaza del Olmo in Navajas after 42 km of descent from the plateau at Barracas. The morning after, the quads have opinions about stairs. Segorbe, the next town down the Palancia valley, is the closest place with a proper day's worth of sights and almost no climbing.

May in Segorbe is warm and settled in most years, with afternoons in the low to mid-twenties and the valley green after spring rain. The town's big festival, the Entrada de Toros y Caballos, belongs to September, so May is quiet.

It is a ten-minute drive or a short taxi ride from Navajas. The local Cercanías line from Valencia to Caudiel also stops at both Navajas and Segorbe, but trains are infrequent; check times at renfe.com before relying on one.

The cathedral and the old centre

Segorbe has been a bishop's seat since the Middle Ages, and the Catedral de Santa María sits in the lower old town, reached on the flat from the main square. Its cloister and the cathedral museum hold one of the larger collections of religious painting and silverwork in the Valencia region, including altarpieces by Valencian painters of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. Visits are by set opening times; check them locally, as they vary by season.

The streets around the cathedral and the Plaza del Agua Limpia are level enough for a slow wander, with benches and cafés. Allow an hour for the museum and another for the streets.

The towers and the aqueduct

Two medieval towers stand on the old wall line above the centre, the Torre del Verdugo and the Torre de la Cárcel. Reaching them means a short, steady climb of a few minutes through the old streets. It is manageable on sore legs if taken slowly, and it can be skipped without losing the day. The old aqueduct that brought water to the town runs along the edge of the centre and can be seen from street level.

Lunch and the return

The restaurants in the centre serve the cooking of the Alto Palancia: rice dishes, grilled meat and local sausages. Lunch in Spain starts after 14:00, which leaves the morning for the cathedral. The return to Navajas takes ten minutes, early enough for an evening walk on the flat greenway at the edge of the village.