Georuta 8: Czech-Chequilla

Ida 16 Km | 16 Km | 16 Km | 16 Km | 16 Km | 16 Km | 16 Km | 16 Km | 16 Km  Unevenness 200 m |  Duration 4 h |  Route –

Georuta 8: Czech-Chequilla

The Georuta 8, has a length of 16 kmThese can be covered by bicycle or car, except for the access to stops 3 and 9, which must be done on foot. There is the possibility of taking a pleasant walk from stop 4 to stop 5 along the local footpath that leads from the village of Czech at the birth of the river Gil de Torres (Aguaspeña) in which we will spend 1 hour there and back.

This route will help you discover the incredible secrets hidden in the rocks. With the help of the panelsAs if you were a detective, you will discover extinct animals, landscapes from 400 million years ago, rocks with ghostly shapes and you can even witness the formation of new specimens. This information is not very obvious, but with a little patience it will show you that rocks are like an open book and hold a lot of information.

We will travel through a variety of landscapes, with a variety of plant formations, such as laricio pine forests and Scots pine forests with marojo oak, orchards with borders of thorny shrubs, and we will even look out onto Sierra MolinaThe area is an extensive moorland with the characteristic creeping scrubland with wild pines. These large areas are the habitat of deer and roe deer and feed griffon vultures, Egyptian vultures and even the occasional dispersing bearded vulture, which are occasionally sighted in the area.

Signposting and Start of the Route

The route is made up of several branches that leave from the town of Checa.

<< Stop 1: The route starts at a car park located near Czech, at kilometre 19.4 on the road to Oreawhere an experimental area of La Tejera and a panel at the beginning of the route. Here we will learn more about the different lithologies of the Upper Tagus. In addition, in the vicinity of this sign, near some corrals, we will find an enclosed area where there is an outcrop of graptolitesThe fossils of ancient organisms that lived here approximately 430 million years ago.

<< Stop 2: Next to the area there is a panel that corresponds to stop 2. folds visible on the road linking Checa and Orea in the vicinity of the kilometre 26. These rocks are among the oldest in the park and were deposited under an ocean during the Palaeozoic era more than 450 million years ago. We find quartzites, originally sands of marine origin, and slates that were clays rich in organic matter that were later deformed and folded by compressional tectonic movements that began 320 million years ago, creating a huge mountain range.

<< Stop 3: From the area, stairs will take you to the next stop, where a panel is located. The rock inside the cage is a "rock cairn".dropstone"literally, fallen rock, a fragment that was once contained in an iceberg, and which subsequently, when it melted, fell to a point far away from its origin. So to the question Were there large icebergs floating over what is now the Upper Tagus?If the rocks we find here were formed at the bottom of a deep sea in which icebergs were floating, we have to answer yes, the rocks we find here were formed at the bottom of a deep sea in which icebergs were floating.

<< Stop 4: We return to the town of Czech and we go to the church, where there is a viewing platform with a panel. From this vantage point you have a good view of the ancient Usos Neighbourhoodand the succession of rocks that represent very different environments. All the geological succession we find here indicates that at the beginning of the Triassic, this area was occupied by large rivers and suffered a later invasion of the sea, which came to cover the whole area, turning it into a warm and shallow sea.

<< Stop 5: We leave Czech Republic and its urban area along a track in the direction of Sierra Molina until you reach, in one kilometre, La Aguaspeña. In front of it there is a panel and a car park, where we leave the car to walk to the tuffaceous formation: it is worth walking along the footbridge that leads into it.

On the one hand, there is the live or forming travertine, recognisable by the presence of herbaceous vegetation and mosses. But there are also inactive areas, recognisable by the irregular appearance and the greyish colour of the rock. You can even see a large block detached from the main building, which collapsed due to the growth of the travertine. 

It is worth mentioning that at this stop we will be able to visit the Celtiberian fort at Castil Griegos as an access ramp has recently been installed to facilitate the steep climb.

<< Stop 6: We follow the track in the direction of Sierra Molina and, after a little more than two kilometres, you will come to a turn-off that heads for the Tornero Cavenext to which there is a panel. From here, we can take a stroll along the bottom of the poljé del CubilloThe poljes are a type of large-scale karst relief, the result of a combination of tectonics and karst processes. Poljes are a type of large-scale karst relief, the result of a combination of tectonics and karst processes. Their name comes from the Balkans, where these types of landforms are abundant.

<< Stop 7: We return again to Checa to start a new branch of the route. This time, we take the road in the direction of Molina de Aragón until you reach the turn-off for Chequilla. Continuing in the direction of this locality and shortly before reaching it, on an esplanade on the right where there are several rock towers, there is a panel. As a curiosity, it is worth mentioning that in these towers that we will see here, the ancient settlers of this area sculpted algibes at the top to store water and ice to cope with dry spells.

<< Stop 8: We continue to Chequilla. In the village square, near the fountain and the pelota court, on a rocky outcrop next to a lamppost, there is an outcrop plaque. We are in front of the Taffoniare formed by a combination of physical and chemical factors. Water flowing down the sandstone wall causes chemical alterations in the "cement" that binds the quartz grains that form the rock. Gradually, the mineral grains are disaggregated and the voids become larger and larger. This happens in the sectors of the rock most exposed to erosion.

<< Stop 9: From the square we go to the labyrinth of alleys The sandstone rocky outcrop follows the local hiking route marked with a white and a green line. With the walk along the "enchanted city of Chequilla At the end of the route, you will enjoy an environment of incalculable beauty, where recent discoveries have shown the use of these corners as magical places or places of worship by primitive man.