An echo from the past- abandoned village in sierra setting

About half way in between Caceres and Plasencia is the busy village of Cañaveral, the edges of the village soon segue into countryside and a winding camino climbs high into the sierra, with each bend the views get more and more extensive and very contrasting. At one point there is a birds eye view of the new AVE train track sweeping across the land, another few bends and there is a far view of the Alcantara lakes.

Finally the track runs out at the entrance to the ancient settlement of Villa del Arco with a backdrop of the dramatic crags of the Sierra del Arco.
There are no constant inhabitants of the village, they all moved out around 20 years ago to seek more profitable employment than the traditional agricultural work of sheep and goat herding, cheese making etc. However, the houses are well preserved and maintained, the owners and family coming back sometimes throughout the year, especially for the summer fiestas which revolve around the charming church of  La virgen de la Asunción.

The most wonderful aspect of the village is the gushing water, fuentes are fed from the abundant springs of the mountain. There are large ponds built to collect the water and channel it into the village where it runs in channels through the cobbled streets, the delightful aroma of mint explodes at every step as it grows exuberantly between the cobbles. Walled gardens are luxuriant with pomegranates, lemons and oranges spilling into the streets.  There is a small plaza with the remains of an ancient mighty elm tree, now a phantasmagorical collection of writhing limbs and grotesque excavations but there are plenty of thriving trees shading the village creating a cool and pleasant atmosphere.

There is no café or bar or shop, just peace and the sound of the wind, stunning views and Griffon vultures soaring above the peaks.

 A glimpse of the past but not the reality. It must have been a bustling little community once,with a school, a communal bread oven, animals in the fields and the corrals of the village, births and deaths and the lives lived in between. Now it's a really special sanctuary, charming and a little melancholy.

Megalithic Sun Temple revealed as Extremadura reservoir waters recede

As waters at the Embalse de Valedecanas, outside Peraleda de la Mata in the Caceres province receded due to the current drought, a circle of megalithic standing stones emerged from the deep.
The stones, that date from the second and third millennium BC, form the site of a sun temple on the banks of the River Tagus and were last seen by locals six decades ago before the area was flooded during the Franco-era to create a reservoir.

Excited locals have been making trips out to view the stones that had formed a part of local legend.

The collection of 144 stones, some of which reach two metres high and have engravings of serpents, are arranged in circles, but like Stonehenge, it is unclear exactly who put them there and for what purpose.
The site would have been created over thousands of years, using granite transported from kilometres away.Similar to Stonehenge, they formed a sun temple and burial ground. They seemed to have a religious but also economic purpose, being at one of the few points of the river where it was possible to cross, so it was a sort of trading hub. The stones began to emerge from the receding waters earlier this summer and now stand on dry land, for now.
There has been no rain this summer, the drought and also a policy of extracting water to send to Portugal has combined to lower the water table and reveal the stones but that can all change very quickly once the autumn rains start.

There is a  group of local residents campaigning to move the stones to a site on dry land before the waters rise again and they are lost. They say “If we miss this chance it could be years before they are revealed again and the stones, which are granite and therefore porous, are already showing signs of erosion and cracking, so if we don't act now it could be too late.”
They hope that the regional government of Extremadura will step in to move the stones within weeks to a nearby site.

The Romans were the first to value the site which was then left neglected until Hugo Obermaier, a German priest and archaeologist enthusiast visited it in the 1920s. He excavated the site and took whatever treasures could be moved back to Germany where they are displayed in a museum in Munich.
The stones themselves were left in situ and disappeared beneath a reservoir when a dam was built in 1963.

We also visited a Roman site, Augustobriga, further along the shores of the lake. Originally the site of Augustobriga was further down by the banks of the Tajo river, it was moved stone by stone to its present site when the valley was flooded to make the reservoir unlike the fate of the menhirs.
 All that is left are some columns belonging to the temple of La Cilla, know locally as Los Marmoles even though the construction is of granite

Winter walk to La Preciosa

One of our favourite walks from Montanchez village to Manfred's olive grove, La Preciosa. It's about 3kms across the sierra on a high slope looking down on Arroyomolinos. It feels like the end of the world, perfect peace and beautiful views. The olive grove is ancient with wonderfully knarled olive trees and a few old fig trees, surrounded by intricately layed stone walls, it's a special refuge and often our picnic spot.
Today the clouds were lying low in the valleys but up above the sun was really bright and warm, the sky a gorgeous luminous blue.

OVER THE SIERRA FROM MONTANCHEZ TO ARROYOMOLINOS- SPECTACULAR WALK

How many times have I done this walk? Maybe 20 or 30 times over 12 years  but it's still very special, not least because of the solitude, usually never meet another person.
Today was extra special with the sound of running water crashing down the mountain and accompanied by nightingales along the way. Because the walk is so secluded with many different natural habitats the bird life and botany are really impressive.

The walk starts in Montanchez and winds its way through 7 kms of the sierra on an ancient path down to Arroyomolinos.
First passing by vineyards and olive groves, through the mossy bosky chestnut wood now in deep cool shade and then out onto the wilder mountainside still smothered in exquisite wild flowers.

The path gets steeper as it approaches the gorge of Arroyomolinos passing by many natural springs on the way and with far distant views of terraced mountainside and way down to the hills beyond the gorge.

At the start of the gorge the first mill building appears, it has been renovated and used as an idyllic retreat, just below there is a torrent of water gushing back down to the main stream.

The path is steep but secure and follows the stream all the way down the gorge. The vegetation is wild and rampant, the ruins of many water mills emerge from the green tangle. A marvelous and unique collection of  mills cascading down the hillside, fascinating and romantic.

The design of the mills is ancient and features a tall stone tower with an acquaduct connecting the tower to a millpond, the mill is powered by the water of the mill pond being guided along the acquaduct and then crashing down the tall tower onto the paddles which turn the millstones, the water then flows back to the main stream and the next mill.

The base of the gorge  widens into meadows and olive groves on the outskirts of Arroyomolinos where there is a wooded path along the lower slope of the sierra all the way back to Finca al-manzil, about another 2kms on level ground

A WALK THROUGH THE DEHESA TO VISIT BOTIJA MOLINO ON THE TAMUJA RIVER

Botija is a small village buried in the deep peace of the Extremadura countryside. It is surrounded by dehesa, rich grazing land for Iberic pigs, cows and sheep.
We walked along an ancient path to an 18th century mill complex recently restored.
There has been no rain for weeks so the Tamuja river was very dry, just some isolated stretches of water, no water running through the mill but we will return after some rain to see the dramatic rocks surrounding the mill forming a cascade as the water falls from the millpond back to the course of the river.

Manfred went ahead to deal with these cows, they went running off but those horns looked rather alarming.
On the way back we crossed an ancient stone bridge only just wide enough for a small cart.

Lots of pigs in the woods devouring the acorns, enjoying the sun and taking a wallow in mud pools. Delightful life until the day of the matanza and transformation into wonderful jamon .