Northgrippian Park

Northgrippian Park offers an integrated interpretation of the Sierra de Gredos at El Raso, in which archaeology, pastoral culture, and ecology do not appear as separate chapters, but as parts of the same living story, still unfolding in the present. It is a landscape spanning five thousand years of human and natural history. From the Vetton hillfort of El Raso and ancient forms of settlement, a trail passes through places shaped by traditional herding, life in shepherds’ dwellings, and the earliest symbolic expressions preserved in rock art. It culminates in the mountain savannas of the southern slopes of Gredos, an open landscape of oaks, grasslands, and large herbivores whose history may reach far beyond the visible traces left by people.

The visit is free and begins at the car park of the Celtic hillfort of El Raso, in Candeleda, Ávila. From there, a walking route of up to 14 kilometres in total, there and back, with around 600 metres of elevation gain, follows a trail that seems to lead backwards through time. Passing ancient settlements, traces of pastoral life, and open landscapes, the itinerary reveals how the mountain savanna of Gredos has survived into the present: a possibly relict ecosystem and perhaps one of the last examples of a type of vegetation that may once have been far more widespread across the Iberian mountains. Walking through Northgrippian Park means discovering that the history of this land is written not only in its stones, but also in its trees, shrublands, and wildlife.

Find out more about the first stop >>