Territory · the thread of water
The rivers of the Serranía
The Serranía divides its waters between two slopes: the Júcar and the Cabriel flow towards the Mediterranean; the Guadiela, towards the Tagus. Following a river leads from the springs of the sierra to the villages and to what was done beside the water.
How they join
The branches under each name are the watercourses that feed it, according to the network documented in the atlas.
The Cuervo, Huécar, Trabaque, Moscas, Guadazaón, Valdemeca and others will be added when official mapping (CHJ, CHT, IGN) confirms where they drain.
Go in by a river
Júcar river basin district
Júcar
The Júcar rises in the municipality of Tragacete (Cuenca) and reaches the Mediterranean at Cullera (Valencia). In the Serranía it was a route for timber, which floated down towards Cuenca in spring, and from 1926 a source of electricity: its water drove the turbines of the Salto de Villalba, supplying Madrid.
Júcar → Mediterranean Sea (Cullera, Valencia)
Júcar river basin district
Cabriel
The Cabriel is a tributary of the Júcar crossing the east of the province of Cuenca through the Serranía Baja (lower Serranía). It gives its name to the Valle del Cabriel Biosphere Reserve, designated in 2019, with 421,765.93 hectares and 37 Cuenca municipalities. Logs floated down it until the mid-20th century; today its Chorreras in Víllora and Iberian sanctuary in Mira are known.
Tagus river basin district
Guadiela
The Guadiela is a tributary of the Tagus running through the Serranía de Cuenca and the Hoz de Beteta, a canyon with walls up to 200 m high, declared a Natural Monument. An 11.18 km stretch is listed as a River Nature Reserve, with very good ecological status. In Cañizares, the Jornadas Gancheras centre on it.
Guadiela → Tagus
Tagus river basin district
Escabas
The Escabas, in the Tagus basin, rises in the mountains of Tragacete and is a tributary of the Guadiela. Its Hoz de Priego, between Priego and Cañamares, is 2.6 km long with walls over 400 m high. The Jornadas Gancheras have been held on its banks in Priego for years, and the town's hooked poles were famous.
Water within life
Carry on with the gancheros and timber drives, the electricity of the Salto de Villalba, the mills and the work of salt, and the lands these rivers link. Each river's page includes the sources used to place its names and relationships.