WE EXPLORE WITH GRAVEL SIERRA SALVADA, THE BASQUE INFINITE VIEWPOINT
In collaboration with Ibai Fradejas
This time, we are located between the port of Peña Angulo and the port of Orduña, northeast of Álava in the Basque Country. Here is Sierra Salvada, a plateau of more than 100 km2 full of gravel tracks.
Given the little human intervention in this area and the enormous difference between the Mediterranean and Atlantic climates, a layer of beech forests and grasslands has formed throughout the place, as well as a 600m high and 27km long length limestone wall, creating an odyssey worth traveling. It has valleys and peaks that reach more than a thousand meters.
According to local legends, this mountain range was once inhabited by a dragon that fed on sheep's milk and the villagers it found in its path.
He lived under the Txarlazo summit, where the monument to the Virgen de la Antigua, patron saint of Orduña, Bizkaia, now stands. There is also a legend about a cave called Koba haundi, which sheltered Mari, the supreme deity of Basque mythology, who scared the locals by crossing the firmament turned into a ball of fire.
As if that were not enough, here is the highest waterfall in the entire Iberian Peninsula, the "Salto del Nervión". This has a vertical drop of 270 meters from Mount Santiago (Berberana, Burgos), to the Délika circus (Amurrio, Álava).
Without a doubt, this magical place deserves to be visited. We recommend that it be in times of thaw or after heavy rains to be able to witness the fall of water through the Nervión.
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