El Maestrazgo in Teruel – part 2
THE MAESTRAZGO area in Teruel province, which was introduced on this page last week, has very good infrastructure for walkers.
The local authorities have made a real effort to showcase the routes they have to offer, and make the information available via the internet.
The main instrument for walkers is the GR-8 long-distance footpath which runs through the Aragón region.
It has an accompanying website which offers maps and stage profiles with distances and height gain.
Accessed via a mobile phone, the maps are interactive and can be zoomed in and out, allowing the user to get high detail on the area which is being traversed.
The website can be found at senderosturisticos.turismo dearagon.com/senderos/gr8
And, the footpath itself is well signed posted. It is always comforting for a walker to see the white/red waymarks of a GR and to imagine all the possibilities that it entails. The two places I chose as walking bases were Mora de Rubielos and Cantavieja, both small towns with fascinating pasts which can be viewed through their buildings.
As well as being on the GR-8, they also have a variety of short-distance PR routes.
A whole host of footpaths can be found in the Mora de Rubielos areas via the webpage gudarjavalambre.es/ municipios-gj/mora-de-rubiel os/senderos
Some of the best of the routes will appear on this page in the coming weeks.
The 'emptied' Spain (España vaciada)
Before looking at the walks, some more information about the area.
Teruel is one of many inland provinces of Spain suffering depopulation. The ageing agricultural communities are shrinking. The farmers work in an inhospitable climate – fierce heat at times in the summer and temperatures which plunge below zero in winter.
It is not an attractive life for many young people. Some have renounced their family
heritage and moved to the cities – or the family line has come to an end.
This is evident when walking in the area due to the large number of abandoned farmsteads on view. On some of the routes it is possible to pass at least a dozen of these magnificent old properties which are falling into disrepair, some of them completely tumbledown.
Sadly, more of these buildings are abandoned than are occupied and they are losing the battle against the ravages of erosion, extreme weather and the passing of time.
They are called ‘masía’ in Spanish and the names of the farmsteads can be seen on the interactive walking maps. One of the main features of the Maestrazgo, the 'masía' are large, strapping buildings with thick walls which look like they could have repelled a cannonball.
The challenge is now for governments to make these areas attractive again for inhabitants –to move away from unsustainable mega-farms (macrogranjas) and encourage young people to move back to small holdings where the animals roam free on vast pasturelands which are certainly not in short supply.
There are so many abandoned ‘masía’ that it is impossible to think they could all be saved, but a gradual reoccupation of small farms is exactly what the European Union is trying to encourage, and grants are available.
Next week (at last!) the first of the walking routes will be outlined – in and out of the River Alcalá canyon.
At the end of this series of articles, there will be more on the history of Mora de Rubielos and Cantavieja and their links to the Knights Templar, as well as suggestions on where to stay.