Estimated time: 3 h
Altitude difference:
Maximum altitude:
Distance:
GETTING THERE:
La barranca valley has a road access from the M-607 between the villages of Navacerrada and Cercedilla. This little road takes you until a hotel, but some meters before there is a big parking place on the right. There are around 60 km from Madrid.
DESCRIPTION:
Leaving the car park, take the track upwards, bordering an activity center (De pino a pino). At the end of this center, and in a curve leftwards, you will find short-distance signs (white and yellow bands) code PR-M-26. Follow them and they will take you inside the pine forest (Pinus sylvestris) along the valley, close to a stream. Eventually, it crosses the track where there is a fountain (drinkable). And behind this, the path continues upwards and straight until it crosses again the big track. This time, the path continues to the left (westwards), climbing continuously in th forest. It emerges from the canopy some hundred meters before the turn-off to the left, when de descends starts.
All along this part, after the last track crossing, there are wonderful views of the mountains to the north and east, as well as the reservoirs near the car park and the south. They are especially visible after emerging from the forest, where the vegetation changes to high altitude bushes: Juniperus communis, ssp. nana, Cytisus oromediterraneus, Genista cinerea, Arctostaphyllos uva-ursi.
The way down starts in a similar path that goes down slowly, leaving on the right some rock patches where the wild goat (Capra pyrenaica) can be seen. Also some bird species that inhabited bushes and rocky areas, like Phoenicurus ochruros, P. phoenicurus, Prunella modularis. It also gives you the chance of overlooking another valley, the one where both the road and the mountain train to Navacerrada pass climb, and further to the west.
This path comes again to the main track, where there is a view point. Go down by the track until you arrive to a second view point. Here, look for a path to the east, a nice path in the pine forest that will take you to the first track at the beginning of the route, not far away from the turn off though the short distance path and the activity center.
MAP AND PROFILE
PHOTOGRAPHS