The Cabriel in the Serranía de Cuenca

A tributary of the Júcar

The Cabriel crosses the east of the province through the Serranía Baja and flows into the Júcar. It passes Boniches, Pajaroncillo, Mira, Víllora, Enguídanos and La Pesquera. In Enguídanos it receives the Guadazaón; the Vencherque, which rises in San Martín de Boniches, joins it beyond Villar del Humo.

Its valley has been a Biosphere Reserve since 19 June 2019: about 421,766 hectares in 37 Cuenca municipalities.

What the river tells

• A river of logs. From the Middle Ages to the mid-20th century, with the thaw, the gancheros, river timber drivers, drove logs down the Cabriel towards the Júcar and Levante; the woods of Boniches supplied them, and its riverbanks were loading points. The trade on the rivers of the Tagus is told in The gancheros of the Escabas and Guadiela.
• Light from the river. In Boniches, the Molino de la Luz supplied the village with electricity from 1915.
• A sanctuary in the cave. The Cueva Santa del Cabriel in Mira was an Iberian sanctuary and later a hermitage.
• The village under water. In 1975 Contreras reservoir covered the village of Fuencaliente.

Exploring the river

In Víllora the river has cut Las Chorreras into tufa; since the DANA, a cut-off low weather event, of 2024, access is only along the PR-CU 53 short-distance trail. The PR-CU 57 descends from La Pesquera along a Roman road to the reservoir, and the GR-66 long-distance trail, currently temporarily suspended, follows the valley.