🎵 Audio guide
The Sierra del Pinche, like the Sierra de Dios Padre, forms the easternmost part of the Sierra de Gata. Following this trail, we discover lands where olive trees abound but where there are also other crops, meadows, pine forest, oak groves, strawberry trees and riverside vegetation, all creating a rich mosaic in shades of green.
This trail is a circular route which passes through varied scenery. It climbs rolling hills replete with olive trees to reach the summit of the Sierra del Pinche from where we can enjoy wonderful views of the neighbouring regions, before descending once again to the village.
The trail starts in the Plaza de Ejido beside the Tree Fair monument. We take Avenida de la Paz towards the cultivated plots of land on the outskirts of the village. We continue out of the village on an agricultural track which passes through olive groves and crosses a small stream, the Arroyo de Santa María before climbing the Peña del Obispo, a small, forested hill.
After passing through the forest, the trail descends beside the Arroyo la Carrasquilla, a small stream, with smallholdings and meadows bordering the riverside vegetation. The track straightens out and passes between old stone walls which enclose the olive orchards. At the next junction, just off this track on the right, there is an ancient round stone hut.
The path continues between olive trees and the occasional vineyard, and as we climb higher we have marvellous views of Villanueva behind us. We pass various junctions with other tracks and our trail gets steeper to complete the last stretch of the climb. We find ourselves in a forest consisting mainly of pine trees, holm oaks and strawberry trees.
The peak of the Sierra del Pinche gives us magnificent, scenic views, not just of the Sierra de Gata region, but also the Trasierra-Granadilla region, with the Sierra de Gredos in the distance. We start the downhill section passing through an area of wooded pasture (dehesa) with the Sierra de Dios Padre ahead of us, before the trail gently winds its way into a forested area.
We reach a junction and turn 90° to the right onto a track which heads slightly uphill. This leads us into a completely different environment, a forest of oak and strawberry trees. After passing a fenced in farm we come to a junction and off the path we can see an ancient stone fold and a large round stone hut.
After the junction, the path starts to descend, the forest begins to thin out and, little by little, pine trees and scrub start to take over. We now start heading directly towards Villanueva and with the village in our sights and the Sierra de Dios Padre in the background once again we find ourselves surrounded by olive trees which will accompany us until the end of the trail.
Passing through the extensive olive orchards we recross the Arroyo de Carrasquilla which leaves a small footprint in its wake in the midst of the sea of olive trees. The track starts to climb slightly to the edge of the riverside forest of the Peña del Obispo. From this point it’s all downhill through olive groves, back to Villanueva de la Sierra.