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Viewpoint next to the old N-III highway After passing the engineer's house, a turnoff leads to the viewpoint located above the old N-III highway. Sweeping views of the reservoir from a high, accessible point.

Hiking: Popular routes, such as the "Engineer's House" trail, offer viewpoints overlooking the reservoir and the Cabriel River gorges. Guided tours: Occasionally, the Hydrographic Confederation and the Villargordo Town Council organize tours and talks in the village of Contreras. Historic roads: The abandoned section of the old N-III highway and the Contreras Hills attract engineering enthusiasts, with their original 20th-century asphalt and signage.

Contreras Dam (Contreras Reservoir), located on the border between Cuenca and Valencia provinces. It lies between Villargordo del Cabriel (Valencia) and the Cuenca municipalities of La Pesquera, Mira, Enguídanos, and Minglanilla, spanning the Cabriel and Guadazaón rivers. Below the dam is the historic Contreras Bridge, built between 1845 and 1851 by Lucio del Valle, part of the old zigzag mountain pass.

It was built in 1972 at the confluence of the Cabriel and Guadazaón rivers. The dam height is 129 metres. Its purpose is, among other things, to supply water to the city of Valencia. The Contreras Bridge was built between 1845 and 1851 by the engineer Lucio del Valle. To descend the ravine, he had to build a zigzag road that formed the port of Contreras.

You cannot pass this path, since it has been closed with a 3m high fence. Today, Saturday, June 8, 2024, we had to turn around when we came across this fence.😐

The rock breakthrough is simply worth seeing, as is the crystal clear water.

In Alto de los Aliagares you have to leave the Natural Path and turn left along a paved track to start the cycle tourism variant of the Hoces del Cabriel Natural Park. The rural road passes through the village of Los Pedriches and continues to Venta del Moro, a popular Cabriel municipality on the Camino de la Vera Cruz, one of the great pilgrimage itineraries between Roncesvalles, on the Camino Francés, and Caravaca de la Cruz, in Murcia, following the Templar markers used by the custodians of the “lignum crucis” (the splinter of the cross of Christ) during the transfer to the Murcian sanctuary a thousand years ago. At the Venta del Moro exit there are route signs in several directions and the optimal one for gravel is the lane marked with the PR-CV 345 milestones, direct towards Casas del Rey and Casas de Moya. The landscape is a new environmental transition, a suggestive change from the agricultural plateau of vineyards and agricultural fields to the mountain garrigue setting of the Mediterranean mountain ranges. The colors of the earth, the rock formations and the pine forests announce the entrance to the great canyon of the Hoces del Cabriel, declared a protected natural area in 2005 and a Biosphere Reserve in 2019. In Casas de Moya there is an asphalt slope to the top of the Cerro de las Tres Cruces and then the “bajadadón”. The road begins a dizzying descent trying to discover the abyss of the Cabriel River in the labyrinth of the landscape. The feeling of happiness is absolute, at the end the river is sure to appear and the bicycle speeds down the slopes of the Rubial mountain range. At a crossroads there are signs for a direct route to the Vadocañas bridge, where the connection with the Natural Trail is. For the moment the route continues to the left towards Los Cárceles. On the way you have to cross the El Tochar estate, one of the most famous hunting reserves in Spain. The descent ends on the shore of the Cabriel. The river navigates peacefully, forested and solitary in a grandiose canyon surrounded by mountains and mountain ranges. The road crosses the Cabriel River in the village of Los Cárceles and enters the province of Albacete, a lost paradise near the ruins of the Villamalea bridge, one of the remains of the old Baeza-Utiel train line. The railway was designed at the beginning of the 20th century to connect Andalusia with Catalonia, with the commercial purpose of facilitating the exchange of Andalusian products such as oil, cereals, livestock or saffron, with Catalan items such as fruit, vegetables and machinery. The start of the Civil War, in 1936, paralyzed the works and the railway was never inaugurated, breaking all dreams of opportunities and future.

Venta del Moro is a charming town, located very close to the crystal clear waters of the Cabriel River. It is a strategic place, if you are thinking of starting a good walk or bicycle route.