Many trails and a little history of Las Rozas

Community of Madrid

Ferran Pérez

11/04/2020

Many trails and a little history of Las Rozas

We have another route full of trails through Las Rozas. A simple and easy route to follow with guaranteed fun! … So it was!

Luis, Luismi and Diego accompany us. We leave from Molino de la Hoz with the first stop to photograph ourselves at the dam of the Molino de la Hoz reservoir, on the Guadarrama River. And from there we already left through the field, downstream, and beginning to savor the trails that awaited us.

We pass under the M-505 and turn parallel to the Arroyo del Lazarejo. We follow its small basin until we leave the Camino de los Perales to cross all of Monterrozas and exit through the Fuente del Cura in front of Las Rozas Villages.

We go to the other side of the M50 to enter the Dehesa de Navalcarbón. Where we can see some of its bunkers from the Spanish Civil War. And we leave it passing the A-6 through the Puerta de Las Rozas Bridge to enter fast trails around the perimeter of Monte de El Pardo passing through the Cerro del Cofre. And in the end we arrive at Las Matas along the Arroyo del Faraldo path until we reach Las Matas.

Now we cross the train track and the A-6 to enter the third part of the route. The most fun, wooded and with constant and winding trails through the old Canal del Guadarrama. An ambitious unfinished hydraulic infrastructure from the late 18th century. That he intended to … nothing more and nothing less … than to create a 667 km long navigable canal, which, saving a 700 m difference in height, would have linked the city of Madrid with the Guadalquivir river in Seville, for from there and taking advantage of this navigable river, reaching the Atlantic Ocean. But only the first 25 kilometers could be run, part of which we now enjoy in the form of trails.

And if we continue with the history of the channel. This would be regulated with waters of the Guadarrama contained by the Gasco Dam, which we also take advantage of to visit in ruins. It took 12 years to build and it cost the lives of many people and that on May 15, 1799, after a strong storm, part of the southern wall collapsed, when the dam had been built to a height of 53 m.

Fun and review of our history, now we only have to return to Molino de la Hoz… and of course… On trails too!