@laurac
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There were not really any secure bike racks, but we didn’t fully explore the city. It’s a small, but very touristic village, so some infrastructure, as bars, supermarkets, water fountains, even a defribillator, were present, at least from what we saw.
The first part went through very isolated country roads, though still some benches and water sources were present.
In the second part, we passed by a bar/restaurant which is great, just in case somebody needed a snack or water.
The village had most amenities, connected to Santander by train, there were water fountains, benches, a river to take a swim, a supermarket.
I didn’t see maybe a bike repair station, similar to one that are found around in Cantabria, which could always be useful, as lierganes is still a major destination also for bikes.
The route consisted in different path/stages.
1) From Saron up to Penagos, the route passed through country roads, with field, few houses, and very little to none traffic – which was perfect, as this doesn’t require much attention span, or increased security. At some point, there was a wall who fell, so the road was partly blocked, but I think they were working on repairing it. Pavimentation presented some pothole, and as its not main road, it was not really well maintained.
2) Second part was a foot path lane, clearly separated from the two cars lines, making it safer. Though, still clearly marked as only foot path space, not for bike. It still felt the safest options, as cars speed a lot, and we would just have put ourselves in more danger if on the car route.
3) From the finish of the foot path lane, the 3 km to Lierganes didn’t present either foot or bike lane, though a small margin on the road made me feel safe enough to be biking safely.
Overall, I think it’s a 70% safe route even for children, though with extra carefulness in the last 3 km onto Lierganes.
The route connects Saron to Santa Maria del Cayon, which hosts a kindergarten and a collegio, making it the primary destination of a lot of kids in the area.
I think the route is very useful, but doesn’t allow any space for bikes, and most importantly, for safe bike riding for kids to go to school. I’d even question the feasibility of a “bike bus”, as this would utterly slow down the car traffic, increasing probably the chances of small incidents.
On the way back, we took a secondary route, which leads to Saron football camp area, and that was safer than the Main Street.
While this route was easy for an experienced rider, the things do definitely change if this route was undertaken by school kids. The main road connecting Saron – Santa Maria Cayon is mostly built for cars – speeding a lot – and a right-side walk path, leaving no space at all for people relying on bikes.
Overall, the crossings were safe, though an overall reduced velocity for car would have a bigger impact.
