May 24 Free guided walk along the Chicharra greenway in Yecla

The visit follows the track bed of the old railway line which linked Yecla with Cieza and Alicante

The Vía Verde del Chicharra is a greenway which has been created, like many others, by making use of an old disused railway trackbed, this one running from Yecla in the north of the Region of Murcia through Villena and on to the town of Biar in the Alto Vinalopó area of the province of Alicante.

The word “chicharra” means “cicada”, and the story goes that when the train was first brought into service in 1887 a local farmer, on hearing the strident screeching of the wheels on the tracks, commented “as if we didn’t have enough cicadas this year, now we have another one”. The line allowed a connection with the Madrid-Alicante line and made it far easier to sell the wine of Yecla to other parts of Spain, and in 1889 an extension to Jumilla was approved.

But the trains here were extremely slow (around 15 km/h) and in 1969 the service was discontinued.

The walk on 24th May begins at 10.00 at the Cruz Roja meeting point on the Carretera de Pinoso (click for map) and covers only the stretch nearest to the town, lasting approximately 2 and a half hours. Although it is free of charge prior registration is required online here – book quickly as Yecla tours are usually rapidly oversubscribed!

 For more upcoming events in the Region of Murcia go to the What’s on section of Murcia Today.