Ancares:
The mountains of Galicia
If you want to discover Galicia, this is your place. Time seems to have stood still here. The villages have been trapped among native vegetation from another era.
The reality of Galician nature finds its maximum splendour here. Do some hiking in these places to understand what we want to say, because we can not express what you will feel when you walk between its different forests.
Recommendations:
Fit properly and prepare your backpack with water, food, sunscreen, warm clothes and visor.
Mingle among its native forests, changing slopes, to observe ecosystem changes according to orientation.
Visit the pallozas.
Visit a summit of its mountains.
Nearby QRs:
More information in:
Instituto Lucense de Desenvolvemento Económico e Social (Lucense Institute for Economic and Social Development) (INLUDES). Tel.: 982 227 812.
Interpretation and Management Centre of the Os Ancares National Hunting Reserve (Campo da Braña). Open seasonally.
Aula de la Naturaleza in Campa da Braña-Degrada (Cervantes) Tel: 982 181 252… Open seasonally.
Websites of interest:
https://ancares.info/web/index.asp
More information:
Catalogued as a biosphere reserve and located between Galicia and León, making a natural border between Lugo and El Bierzo. Constituted by the municipalities of Cervantes, Navia de Suarna and part of the municipality of Becerreá.
The Ancares of Lugo have an area of 53,664 hectares and the Ancares of León 56,786 hectares. The brown bear is its most recognized symbol, which has its area of passage in the extreme lugues.
The difficulty of the mountains and distance to large cities has caused an isolation that has maintained traditions, customs and even traditional architecture. In the highest towns we will discover the “pallozas”, ancestral constructions of circular plant and roof of straw. It seems that its curved but regal forms are inspired by the peaks of the mountains, soft and rugged.
The mountains have steep slopes and a high value environmental wealth due to the variation of ecosystems between the highlands, the riverbanks and the different forest uses of different times. In its interior there are villages of greater or smaller population depending on the orography of the area. A dreamy landscape full of life that will delight all those who visit it.
The sets of pallozas constitute the most important monument, they can be admired in Piornedo, in O Cebreiro, in Campo del Agua and isolatedly in other corners of the region. There are medieval castles such as Doiras or Donís, more modern castles such as Villafranca and many other resources.
The rivers that descend along the Galician slope all look for the Navia, which completely encircles the space protected by the west and leads the waters towards the Cantabrian Sea. A good example is the beautiful valley carved by the river Ser or the gorges of the river Rao, in the municipality of Navia de Suarna. The Leonese slope, on the other hand, drains southwards into the Sil basin.
Historically we know of the existence of castreños villages that took refuge in the mountains escaping the Roman Empire. Its strategic location made it the scene of important war episodes, such as the conquest of Augustus, or the Iranian revolts, the French occupation or Carlist wars.