From Las Menas to Seron Railway Station via Seron
Las Menas
The beautiful ancient mining village of Las Menas nestles in a tranquil valley about 15 km into the mountain range of the Los Filabres.
Iron Ore
In its hayday this mining community produced tonnes of iron ore to be sent all over the world. British owned there are examples of British architecture to be seen. This village had about 3000 inhabitants and boasted a bull ring, hospital, bar and its own police force. A small church saw to the religious needs of the village. There was a cable car system ( removed in the early 70's) in place running from the village down the valley to the distant town of Seron, some 12 kilometres away.
Nowadays it boasts a Bar, camping area, Hotel and a museum. There are two roads that service the village today a new road built about 10 years ago and an old road built when the village was first founded. Although there are a few inhabitants today mostly you will find tourist, hikers and bikers visiting.
The best time to do this hike is between the months of March and November because of inclimate weather conditions. Also it is better to hike in the mornings as there is plenty of shade at this time of day. Carry water with you as a precaution.
As we walk down the old road to seron I will explain the high points of the hike.
The best place to start is at the Bar in Las Menas. Depending on the time of day this is a great place for refreshments/ coffee. A nice relaxing start to our hike down the valley to Seron.
We decend down the old tarmac road we pass the new hotel on the left, down to an old iron bridge, this you could probably imagine was the centre of most of the activities and if you are careful and walk around a bit you will find a huge area where they collected the iron ore. It looks something like the dwarf city in the Fellowship of the ring with its huge arches.
Following the road down another kilometre you will see the small church. Just pass here on the oppisite side of the road are two Gothic Mansions where the British owners of the mines lived. I have looked around one of them and you can imagine how magnificent they would have been at the turn of the century.
There are a few other building in disrepair as you carry on walking down the road. Soon you are walking in Pine forests with the road winding down the valley you start seeing the fantastic views to Seron and beyond. As the pine forest gets left behind you. Look to the left on the mountains side you can see what remains of the old cable car system that took the ore to the train station in seron.
Moving down the valley you can now experience the stunning views of the Almanzora valley with over 150 wind turbines in the distance. The peace and serenity of the area is an experience I reccomend.
The road has been dug out of the mountain here. On one side a 200 metre drop with a stream flowing at the bottom,depending on the time of the year, the other side sheer cliff. In the late 19th century you can visualise the work that must have gone into making this road.
3 kms on the old road now meets up with the new one and this is the one place where you have to be careful as there are no pavements, but with the normal care when walking on roads this isn't a problem. So far we have hiked about 8 kms
Seron is now is sight
to be continued
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