In the area further north of the Community of Madrid, we have the Sierra del Rincón, a consortium of small towns which houses the largest beech forest in southern Europe, which together with its varied flora and fauna species threatened with extinction, has earned the recognition of a Biosphere Reserve by UNESCO.
To get to the Sierra del Rincón, the best option is to take the A1 motorway (Madrid-Burgos) and deviate at Exit 67 marking to Lozoyuela and Manjiron (M-135), following this road to the dam of town, where we will make our first stop.
This is one of the reservoirs that supply water to the capital of Spain and the Community of Madrid, in fact, is the oldest functioning of this community, serving since 1873 .
An interesting historical fact is that the dam that holds water Lozoya dome was the first dam in the world, that became a benchmark in the waterworks of its time, since this way the curvature of the dam structure helps to better resist the enormous pressures side.
From the top of concrete wall 50 meters high, we can see the bridge from the villa, built over the gorge that has been forming during centuries of erosion Lozoya, where they currently common to see people practicing canoeing.
After this stop, continue along the M-135 to Paredes de Buitrago, where we will take the M-127 for a while to find the M-137, will continue in the direction Prádena Rincon and Montejo de la Sierra, people who can visit before going to the beech and in which we can contemplate the typical local architecture, stone houses with slate roofs.
Once in Montejo de la Sierra, look for the Resource Centre and Information of the Biosphere Reserve of Sierra del Rincón in Calle Real n º 64, where it received authorization allowing us to visit the Montejo Beech Forest .
We strongly recommend that a reservation request via the website or calling the telephone numbers displayed on the same page, and that although the visit is free and guided, there are bag limits and often people have trouble getting authorization due to the amount of people who want to visit the Beech.
have all the information about booking and cell
clicking here Once we have this document, we can go to the beech forest, located about 8 miles along the M-139, road to find a couple of miles later out of Montejo de la Sierra.
When we arrive, we went to the Beech Center, where he will deliver the authorization and we will assign one of the guides to start the visit.
Also at this time, we report different guided tours that are in the beech, the duration of each ... and depending on the people who have can choose between several routes.
The route I chose is called River Trail, and runs along the banks of the Jarama at approximately 1:15.
not have any difficulty and allows us to envision oak, beech and mixed.
During the visit, the guide tells us about the microclimate that has allowed the formation of a beech forest in an area far south of the most common places where we can find a deciduous vegetation Similarly, more common among Central European countries.
Among many interesting facts, speaks fauna and flora, much of it protected, which can be found on the beech, and have made the visits are so restricted. Beech
over 20 meters and 250 years, oak, birch or holly are part of this great forest, where we can find species such as wild cats, wild boar, roe deer, otters and a variety of waterfowl.
The tour finishes on a huge esplanade where you can see the remains where they were once the charcoal all the dead wood gathered from the forest and burned to produce charcoal to heat the homes of all region.
From here you return to the same way talking to the guide, which answers all the doubts that have arisen from his explanations, and reminds us that it is forbidden to collect any sample of any plant or animal we see, littering and generally all things that way should not usually be done in a protected location like this.
At the exit of beech, there is an area for rest and food to tables, fountains and containers, where they took the opportunity to invigorate and lie down for a while under the pine trees over 15 meters.
After a few moments of relaxation, we decided to make a new route through the surrounding beech forest in the area not is restricted. You can see all the options in the self-guided trails section of the website http://www.sierradelrincon.org/
In any of the routes listed, we can continue to enjoy the sights that gives us the beeches either along the course of the Jarama, between forest floor carpeted with ferns, or walking among pine trees for their space in an area dominated by beech.
To finish the day, before returning to Madrid, we stopped in Puebla de la Sierra, a small town of just 110 inhabitants located almost 1200 meters altitude and accessed from the corner Prádena a road with spectacular views, while dangerous. In fact, this road runs in some sections for altitudes above 1600 meters, so it is quite normal to stay in solitary confinement several times with the arrival of the snow.
If a recommended time to book your visit to the beech, this is the fall, as from October to December the different areas of beech are changing the shade of the trees from green to reddish, to finish covering the ground with a huge carpet of dead leaves just outside of winter.
