I had read diverging reviews about this route on the internet. Some said it was impossible to reach the dam, some said you could by jumping a fence, some said the steep climb over the rock towards the dam could cause vertigo... Nothing better than going out myself and see it with my own eyes. Celia joined me on this trip as there was relatively little work at our aviaries today.
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| View over the reservoir when we arrived |
We arrived just before sunrise, these days that is around 8.30. The sky was cloudy but that made for some lovely photos of the huge reservoir.
Unfortunately another thing that called our attention was gunfire coming from the opposite side of the river where some hunting cunt was satisfying their sadistic needs. And almost inevitably we also saw quite a lot of rubbish along the path, especially at the beginning.
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| One of the two tunnels we walked through |
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| Grey heron, Little Egret and Great Cormorant, peacefully together |
At the end of the official path we were at the point of returning to the car when we saw another hiker climbing up a hill. We decided to follow him and didn't regret that decision. Five minutes later a mountain biker confirmed that we would make it to the dam if we just followed the path, even without jumping any fence. In the meantime we had found the apiary, which was really our main goal today with a future photoshoot of a flock of Bee-eaters in mind.
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| This photo was taken where the official path ends. The dam seemed unreachable from this point |
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| A huge flock of Great Cormorants just after landing on the water |
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| Female Eurasian Blackcap
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| We found the apiary |
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| Arcos de la Frontera, seen from the highest point of our route, about six kilometres away |
Before we arrived at the dam, we stopped at the house that overlooks the reservoir, which you can see in one of the photos above. I can understand why some people might feel a bit uncomfortable here, because there is no real barrier between the path and the precipice, although I wouldn't call it dangerous.
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| The path that leads to the house |
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| The reservoir seen from the house |
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| An amazing Black Redstart |
In order to get to the dam from the house on top of the hill, you have to walk back a bit and descend following a stone path. We were waved at by a guard who told us that we were not allowed to get closer to the dam. When we told him we just wanted to take some photos of the birds, we were granted permission to walk further ahead. The guard turned out to be a birder himself. He told us there were sightings of an Eagle-Owl, but to see one, you had to be there very early in the morning, around dawn.
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| The steps you have to descend to get to the dam |
Unfortunately, there were no spectacular birds to photograph when we stood on the dam. The view was very nice though, especially towards the town of Arcos de la Frontera. The guard also told us that the main reason for not letting people through is to avoid they leave rubbish behind. More and more landowners seem to think that way, and I can see their point.
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| View over the reservoir from the dam |
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| Yellow Wagtail walking over the dam |
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| View of the other side, where the water continues to flow into the Guadalete river |
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| The sun trying to break through the morning clouds |
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| Route starting in the top right corner |
A nice walk that took us a bit less than 4 hours, around four kilometres from beginning to end, with some really beautiful scenery. Mostly recommended in spring or autumn.
