Millenary Holm Oak

Description

The area known as the Llanos de la Estación, or of Hidalgo, is today a very anthropolized landscape where the alternative crops of olive and cereal predominate, although it is easy to notice considerable specimens of oak, as well as numerous chaps on the linds that demarcate the agricultural farms.

We can deduce that this was the dominant landscape a few centuries ago, when after the Reconquista arrived in this village the first inhabitants attracted by the wealth of this dehesa and the possibilities it offered, not only for its cattle, but also to make it "land of bread."

Until the 19th century there were still many oak feet, but it was during this and especially during the first years of the last 20th century that they were significantly reduced, in some cases to devote the land to cereal, vineyard or olive trees and in others to obtaining charcoal. However we can still see some spots of indigenous vegetation in the vicinity of Cabeza Montosa and the hill of the Peones.

This fierce struggle of man against the dehesa has allowed some of the oak to be kept so that its shadow would cover the reapers and the flocks that took advantage of the rashes, or to collect the stones that were taken from the fallow. The fact is that in cases like this, in the face of lack of competition, it is possible that the few specimens of oak have grown more vigorously.

Its trunk has a considerable bearing for an oak and its cup is the widest in the entire province with about 30 meters in diameter and 300 meters in perimeter. This oak is part of the catalogue of unique trees in Spain and is waiting to be declared as Good of Natural Interest, not in vain is of the few millennia trees left on the peninsula.

It is located very close to the railway station of Cabra del Santo Cristo, next to the cortijo of "La Viña." We can access up to the millennial oak through an asphalt road, in good condition, that leaves from the passage to the level that is in the Station. We just have to follow the direction of the signage and within 2 km we will have no doubt when we see it to the left of the road, while to the right the above-mentioned cortijo of the Viña will serve as a reference.

From Cabra we can also walk along the lane that runs through the Fifth, Alamedilla and Gamelloncillo, for which we will walk through space of about 6 km (only one way). It is advisable to finish our route at the station of Cabra and stay in your canteen to take a refreshment with good viandas to recover from the effort, or, if we want to continue to know this ancient dehesa, continue track and return to Hidalgo and the Mill Barranco, but then we will extend our route to about 18 km and have walked by asphalt for a considerable part of the road.