Encinar

We will come to a crossroads, we continue to the right. A little higher up you can see a fountain under an oak. In this place, to the right of the track and above the fountain, we will find large specimens of holm oaks, although in reality we have been walking through a magnificent holm oak for a long time. The crossroads of the track is where the old Oak Fountain forest house was. It is here where the holm oak forest reaches all its magnificence.

In this forest dominated by holm oak we find the occasional gall oak (Quercus faginea), rowan trees (Sorbus domestica), pespejones (Sorbus torminlis), hawthorn hawks (Crataegus monogina), rose hips (Rosa spp.), Laureolas (Daphne laureola), hawthorn (Berberis vulgaris australis), wormwood (Daphne gnidium), peonies or bush roses (Paeonia broteroi), orchids (Orchis papilionacea, Cephalantera rubra, Cephalantera longifolia, Ophrys tentrhediniphera), rusks (Ruscus aculeícinaatu) and the dominant gram the cervero (Brachypodium retusum).

In our mountains we can see many oak forests. For example, on the ascent to Santiago de la Espada from Tobos, in La Esperilla, before Fuente Acero, or on the access road to Las Pegueras. With the name of holm oak, Mediterranean forest has been understood, but the matter is not so simple.

Rather, we should say that the holm oak is a phase of the Mediterranean forest. The lauroid forest, which we discuss in another section, is also a Mediterranean forest. In any case, the holm oak does exist as such, in addition to its main component, the holm oak (Quercus ilex ballota), being in almost all the plant formations of the Park, with the exception of the peaks and cold deciduous forests, of the high Montana.

From Coto Ríos we take the A-319 road towards El Tranco and after less than a kilometer we turn right towards the Llanos de Arance campsite. We overcome it and continue (the road becomes a forest track), until we reach the Aguamula control. As we pass it, we follow the track to the left, discarding another to the right, from here we cross the right bank of the Tranco reservoir. We take the first detour that appears to our right at 2.1 km from the aforementioned control. It is a great crossroads where the track widens and where we must turn to our right making a sharp curve that places us almost 180º in the direction of our travel. This is the track that goes up to Majalalto, passing through the Fuente del Roble. In that place we leave the vehicle, since the track is closed to traffic with a chain.