Jara Greenway (Toledo)

Jara Greenway Sometimes a railway is destined to fail. This is the case of the railway designed to link Talavera de la Reina with the rural district of Las Vegas Altas del Guadiana in Extremadura. The difficulty of the route, in which the mountainous nature of the terrain required a huge engineering effort, caused the project to be shelved before its completion. Today the La Jara Greenway runs between the Montes de Toledo hills and the Villuercas massif in the region of Extremadura. TECHNICAL DATA CONDITIONED GREENWAY An adventure through virgin lands, from the shores of the Tajo river to the Sierra de Altamira. LOCATION Between the Stations of Calera y Chozas (Renfe) and Santa Quiteria TOLEDO Length: 52 km Users: Type of surface: Greenway with mixed surface: Asphalt and compacted earth Natural landscape: The river Tajo valley, Azután Dam. “Dehesa” (Parkland) del Arco. Valley of San Martin. Altamira Range. Jara woods. Landscapes of Granitic Bowlings Cultural Heritage: Archeological site of “Ciudad de Vascos” Infrastructure: Greenway. 18 tunnels. 6 viaducts How to get there: Puerto de San Vicente: La Sepulvedana bus company Connections: Madrid: 150 Km. from Calera y Chozas Maps: Military map of Spain. 1:50.000 scale 626.654.682 and 708 sheets Official road map of the Ministry of Public Works Ministerio de Fomento More information on the Greenways guide Volume 1 ATTENTION: Lack lighting in some tunnels due to vandalism. It is recommended to use flashlights DESCRIPTION Km. 0 / Km. 10 / Km. 25 / Km. 35 / Km. 52 Km 0 The route begins 380m above sea level on the platform of the out-of-the-way Renfe railway station, Calera y Chozas (Toledo), through which dozens of trains from Madrid pass every day on their way to Extremadura and Portugal. Although nowadays no trains are scheduled to stop at this station, there are some trains which will stop if you put in a request some time in advance of the date. Once off the southern end of the platform we travel parallel to, but a little way away from, the railway lines. There is a road to our left that we will need to cross soon. The crossing place is well signposted and there is good visibility, and it is the only intersection with any road in all the Greenway Km 10 After a long straight section passing between crop fields, we arrive at the Apeadero de Silos. This station marks the entrance to the "Finca El Arco", an estate bordering the banks of the Tajo where the Greenway enters into a forested landscape. A dense Mediterranean forest, preserved unspoilt due to its history as a hunting estate, is a feast for both eye and nose. Hares and rabbits cross our path while birds of prey fly out of the tree tops. We are less likely to see any of the deer that graze in these woodlands since they prefer to stay out of the way of humans. At Km 10, on the right hand side of the trail, hidden behind a fig tree, we come across the Fuente de la Garrapata spring. This is one of the few “oases” on the route and it is a good idea to stock up with water because this will be the last opportunity we get. While in the "Finca El Arco" we pass through the first two tunnels on the route. At the exit to the second tunnel, at Km 13, we are faced with a pleasant surprise as the trail crosses high above the waters of the Tajo on a splendid viaduct. Below us is the Azután reservoir, a wide expanse of water hemmed in by the steep slopes of the valley. After the viaduct we begin to gain height on our way to Aldeanueva de Barbarroya. A gentle and winding climb takes us towards the first railway station on the route. Meanwhile, on our right, the Tajo river flows out of sight between the wooded sides of the valley. Aldeanueva de Barbarroya (Km 17) is the first and last town that we will encounter along our Greenway and is therefore a good place to buy anything we may be running short of. A word of warning: there is no access to drinking water for the rest of the route! From here the Greenway heads southwards along long straight sections through a landscape scattered with granite boulders. We also pass over another great feat of engineering, the Riscal del Cuervo viaduct (Km 24), a stylish bridge spanning a deep ravine. Km 25 The Apeadero de Pilas (Km 25), now home to a partridge farm, signals the start of an intricate landscape of slate, rockrose, and tunnels. The 27 remaining kilometres boast no fewer than 15 tunnels which, together with anther 4 major viaducts, characterize this stretch running beside the banks of the river San Vicente. Our passage through Nava- Fuentes railway station (at Km 29) does nothing to interrupt the solitude of our route, since the villages that in theory are served by this station, La Nava de Ricomalillo and Fuentes, are 6 km and 3 km away respectively. Km 35 The rest of the route is trouble free, though from time to time pieces of slate may escape from the dense rockrose scrub and find their way onto our track. The rockrose scrub becomes ever denser and its scent fills the air. Soon we arrive at the ruined station of Campillo-Sevilleja (Km 36) which leads on to the last section of this Greenway. Sevilleja de la Jara is home to one of the most important wildlife recovery centres in Spain for the imperial eagle. The Centre for Iberian Birds of Prey boasts a nature classroom dedicated to environmental studies. A little later, after crossing the San Vicente reservoir along the top of the dam wall, we take our leave of the river and head towards the sea of rockrose that characterizes the final kilometres of our Greenway. The only feature of note in this section is the out-of- the-way Apeadero de La Cervilla (Km 44), so far from the nearest town or village that it is hard to understand why it was built at all. To the north we can see the rocky heights of the Gredos mountains while ahead of us the Sierra de Altamira, which is our final destination, comes ever closer Km 52 The bleating of sheep and the grunting of pigs will let us know we have arrived. The Santa Quiteria station (Km 52), at 670m above sea level, is now the unusual home to a livestock farm. Now the cargo platform is a storage area for tons of straw and the former waiting room and ticket office are used only by sheep. Other buildings that used to house railway workers are now occupied by a sizeable herd of Iberian pigs. This is where the La Jara Greenway ends. However the railway works continue on into the region of Extremadura. But shortly after entering the rural district of Las Villuercas in the province of Caceres the railway comes to a definitive end, and so it would be impossible to reach Guadalupe by this route. MAPS PROFILE RAILWAY HISTORY As is often the case, we need to go back to the time of the dictator General Primo de Rivera and his Minister of Public Works, the Count of Guadalhorce, to discover the origins of this railway line. Under the 1926 railway expansion plan, new lines were to be built to create a truly nationwide railway network. This particular line was to connect Talavera de la Reina (Toledo) with Villanueva de la Serena (Badajoz), passing through the monastery town of Guadalupe (Cáceres), thereby linking up the Tajo and Guadiana valleys Work began at a healthy rate towards the end of the 1920s. Vast numbers of workmen helped by former farm workers cut and tunnelled into the virgin hills and poured tons of concrete to throw elegant slender viaducts over rivers. The civil war and its hardships was a death blow to the project. The post-war years, the rise of the private car, and the depopulation of rural areas all conspired against the railway building project. The works languished until someone eventually pulled the plug. By the time the project was abandoned all the earthworks had been completed except for some 20 km of the Villuercas section, and all the stations had been built. All that was left to do was to lay the tracks and install the signalling. In fact some track was actually laid between Villanueva and Logrosán and this stretch of line was delivered to Renfe. The line even had some staff appointed to run it, but now even those tracks are just a memory. INTERESTING DATA 1. Festivals and holidays 2. Accommodation 3. Eco-tourism 4. Managing Authority 5. Town Councils 6. Emergencies 7. Coaches & buses Festivals and holidays Calera y Chozas 1st Sunday in May Romería de la Virgen de la Vega September 14 Santísimo Cristo de Chozas Sunday before the local fiestas Día de la Bicicleta Aldeanueva de Barbarroya January 24 Virgen de La Paz Last Sunday in August Nuestra Señora la Virgen del Espino El Campillo de la Jara May 8 La Cruceta February 3 San Blas 1st week of August Fiestas de la Juventud Sevilleja de la Jara August 15 Fiestas de la Espiga 2nd weekend in June Fiesta de la Juventud September 14 Santísimo Cristo La Nava de Ricomalillo Wednesday after Easter Virgen del Amor de Dios 1st Sunday in August Fiestas de los Molinos Puerto de San Vicente August 22 to 25 San Vicente Accommodation Calera y Chozas Hotel David * Ctra A-V.

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