Arlanza region
These lands washed by the river Arlanza, between Lerma and Santo Domingo de Silos sound like romance. Lands of the old district of Lara, lands of count Fernan Gonzalez, where history and legend weave fantasies and the river sings, like a mediaeval juggler, the poem of the epic and heroic deeds of Castile. The area is one of transition where vast wild plains and pleasant valleys alternate, with natural spots of great beauty, presided by the sierra of the Mamblas, drawing its whims in the Yecla. To the south, the Peñas de Cervera draw the limits of the region, whilst to the east, towards Hacinas, the Mesa de Carazo reminds us of historic frontiers and marks the first foothills of the Sierra de la Demanda.
And as if these natural attractions were not enough, the valley of Arlanza offers us an extraordinary heritage, Lerma, Covarrubias, San Pedro de Arlaza and Silos, especially significant in the history of Castilla y León.
The so-called Nature Reserve of La Yecla and the Sabinares of the Arlanza covers, apart from the gorge that gives it its name, the middle valley of the Arlanza, the Peñas de Cervera, the Canyon of Matavieja, the Gayubar Mount and the Sierra of the Mamblas. Here, what can be considered as the most extensive and best preserved savine groves of the whole planet are located. Some of the savines of the Arlanza are more than two thousand years old. The holm oak and gall oak woods are also important.
The rocky relief -with large limy and practically
inaccessible fractures- has favoured the development of a varied
and copious population of birds of prey among which the common
vulture must be pointed out. We can also find the Bonelli eagle,
the peregrine falcon, the Eurasian sparrowhawk, the northern goshwak
and Egyptian vulture; and among the mammals, wild cat, the wolf,
boar, roe deer, genet and some otters.
Burgos guide