Carrascosa

A paramera of pine forests and dehesas

Carrascosa lies on a paramera, a high, open limestone plateau, in the Serranía Alta, among pine forests and dehesas, wood pastures, and is among the mountains’ cold villages. Its name speaks of carrascas, holm oaks. The church of La Asunción follows the Gothic tradition. The municipality includes the hamlet of Herrería de Santa Cristina, borders Valsalobre, Beteta and Cañizares and extends into the Hoz de Beteta y Sumidero de Mata Asnos Natural Monument.

Around Carrascosa

• Hoz Somera, a deep valley of cliffs in narrow terraces.
• Peña del Águila viewpoint, above the Hoz Somera.
• The dehesa boyal, common ox pasture, of Valsalobre, described in The dehesa and livestock of Valsalobre.

Los Castillejos forms a kind of stone city with passages and unusual shapes such as Peña del Capricho, midway between Los Callejones de Las Majadas and the Ciudad Encantada; those showing it speak of about 811 hectares in four sectors. The unusual feature is water: of the municipality’s nine streams, much flows between the rocks in waterfalls before descending to the Guadiela through Herrería de Santa Cristina.

A Guadiela tributary descends through the Hoz Somera, forming several waterfalls among the canyons in high water; at some times it almost dries out.

The wartime junta

From 10 to 18 June 1812, during the Peninsular War, the Junta Superior de Aragón y parte de Castilla took refuge in Carrascosa, fleeing the French in Molina. It left for Checa on being warned that two French divisions were leaving Cuenca to seek it. In the Covacho de las Pintas, within the municipality, two uniformed soldiers are engraved in stone, attributed to that war though they could be from the Carlist Wars.

The municipality has the Roble del Tío Lucas, a sessile oak (Quercus petraea), uncommon in Cuenca, almost three metres in girth and full of branches from longstanding pruning.

Routes

• PR-CU 1, Hoz Somera y Los Castillejos: 7.5 km. It overlooks the gorge, descends to its floor, crosses the stream and climbs beside the wall to Los Castillejos, limestone carved by erosion. A variant via Fuente de las Losas shortens it.
• PR-CU 4, Sendero de las Dehesas: 19.7 km. It crosses Carrascosa’s pine and oak dehesa and Valsalobre’s common ox pasture, climbs along the Arroyo de la Navareja above 1,400 m, passes the ruins of Valtablado de Beteta and descends to Cueva del Hierro.
• PR-CU 93, Herrería de Santa Cristina: 9.7 km one way to La Herrería and El Infiernillo power station, with the Peña del Águila and Rocines viewpoints overlooking the Hoz de Tragavivos. It crosses the ravine by Puente de las Tobillas. Return along the same path, which begins with a steep climb.

Light from the Hoz Somera mill

Around 1920 the tenant of the village-owned Hoz Somera mill installed a generator and brought electric light to Carrascosa. A small dynamo was installed at the Molino de la Losa, also within the municipality, to light its own rooms.

Plan your visit

The PR-CU 1 is the shortest of the short-distance trails and best shows the Hoz Somera. With a full day, the PR-CU 4 links with Valsalobre and Cueva del Hierro.

Before you travel

In winter the cliffs freeze. Take water and warm clothing; viewpoints overlook vertical walls.

Combine with

Valsalobre is 6.6 km away as the crow flies, Beteta 7.6 and Cañizares 8.3.