Distance: 5.6km (34.4km / 763.1km).
Weather: Sunny.
I walked with the aim of arriving early in Las Medulas for a specific reason, the odd and old gold mine landscape found there. Still, with the long way from Ponferrada, I did not arrive until after 16 o'clock. And I lost some time sorting out my accommodation. My fear was that I would be in the area when it had run out of sunlight. It should turn out that I still had plenty of time.
One of the cliffs at the entrance to Las Medulas.
Walk into the Unesco World Heritage Site.
The surreal and strange cliff landscape at Las Medulas was created by the Romans as the result of some elaborate engineering works. To extract the gold found in the auriferous hills, the Romans constructed an ingenious system. By digging or excavating tunnels and then filling them with water, they used the water pressure to flush away the sand and wash out the gold. In its wake, the hills was left behind as skeletons of cliffs, pushed apart by the water. For over 200 years the Romans worked here, using both slaves and more legal workers. Being largest open-pit mine in the Roman Empire, it is now a Unesco World Heritage Site.
A hole in the cliff.
There is no entrance fee to the area and there is a visitor centre located at the entrance, providing me with some info about the area.
View of Las Medulas from within, the Mirador de Orellán visible above.
At this late afternoon hour, the cliffs are burning fiery red from the sun. I first walk down in between the cliffs, which stands like towering monuments above me and the trees, among them chestnuts. In some of the cliffs you can see remaining holes from the water tunnels. You can walk into them, although they are fenced off, people still cross over them and enter the holes. Jutting up from the green trees are the orange-red cliffs.
Forest path to Mirador de Orellán.
It is however not down between the cliffs that I want to be, however scenic it is. I want to see the area from above. To do that I have to climb up on a path through the forest to the Mirador de Orellán. After all the fiery red, it is nice to walk through a verdant green. At the top, you can either walk on the gravel track towards the viewpoint, or you can balance on the red ridge with views down.
Ridgeline of Las Medulas.
Las Medulas is a spectacular view from above. When I realized that what I believed to be only morning mist in fact was a lasting fog, I had no hope to get this view. It could not be a better end to this day. From the mirador I can see a hole in the nearby cliff, from where a platform is visible. It is possible to get to that platform from a tunnel, the Galerías de Orellán, but at the entrance I find my visiting hour too early. It is still some time to the next entry.
Las Medulas.
For fun, I walk a short distance further on the mountain path behind the mirador, with a rolling low mountain landscape to behold. I take a look at some other old engineering works, a rock-cut aqueduct.
Closer look at the cliffs of Las Medulas.
I then return down the same way that I came up from. A little before you arrive at the village of Las Medulas, about 1km, there is a signpost for the Mirador de Orellán. This makes it possible to walk up to the viewpoint from that point. Then you can see the area from above and walk down to the village through the spectacular cliffs instead. Will take longer time, but if you plan to visit the Roman mine anyway, it might be a better plan.
The hole and platform of the Galerías de Orellán.
Towering cliffs through the trees.
A monument to a mountaineer, Elvio Nieto.
View of Las Medulas from further back on the mountain track.
A rock-cut aqueduct.
Sunlight from the sinking sun on the way down.
Fiery red cliffs of Las Medulas.
What makes the view of these fiery red cliffs so special is that they are actually man-made. It is a marvel how the Roman engineering could make a landscape such as this of out of the hills. I wonder how it looked before they went to work.
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