After we had found this wonderful spot at the Embalse de Plasencia, a dam at the río Jerte with great water to swim and a nice shore to park and relax, we didn’t want to leave again to drive to the Via Verde de la Plata. But we found a cycling route along the dam, which we decided to do instead.
The cycling path goes over the wall of the dam and then follows the shore in an endless succession of curves. It felt like a two dimensional rollercoaster.
As the track goes through cattle pastures, we met some of them close up, which was a little bit scary, as they had calves and the bull was with them looking fierce, with his horns and massive body. But we managed not to annoy them.
This massive farm building might have been disappropiated, when the dam was built in 1985.
A few fishermen came in the morning and some locals came in the evening to go for a swim, otherwise it was very quiet here. The water was clear and we frequently used the lake to cool down. (40.064681, -6.042109)
This was the first place we saw the azure-winged Magpie, very easy to distinguish with its beautiful blue tail. Its area of distribution within Europe is confined to only Extremadura.
Our next destination was Granadilla – a village, abandoned when a dam was built. More on our next post!