Changing Gear on Rural Tourism

Can cycling reverse rural depopulation without turning villages into tourist traps?

In this episode, host Tom Lovett travels to Spain's "Empty Mountains" to meet Ernesto Pastor, a cyclist who built a 700km bikepacking route to spotlight a demographic crisis.



We dig into the rise of cycle tourism, and what is can offer rural areas. Ernesto explains why all successful routes need are simple road maintenance, how a bar in a village of 50 people found new life through the route, and why the goal isn't to make villages adapt to visitors, but for visitors to adapt to the silence.



This episode is an adaptation of a feature from REVOLVE’s Fall Magazine. Read the issue here: https://revolve.media/magazine/issue-61-fall-2026

Photo: Ernesto Pastor