Béznar: Hang on to your hat!

The theme of the day was wind and water power. Both were uppermost in our minds as we were walking over the top of the Presa (dam) de Béznar. The sound of the water escaping from the dam is deafening, and the wind blowing down the valley of the Río Izbor is strong enough that I had to hang onto my hat or I’d be watching it sail off toward the Mediterranean.

Pleasant gravel tracks led us from the village to the dam, and dirt tracks that followed the irregular shoreline brought us back. But the exciting part was the dam itself. It has a road over the top with sidewalks on either side. Sturdy hand rails keep you from being blown off. There are even little viewing miradors right in the middle.

The dam was built in 1986 to provide a constant water supply (along with the Rules Reservoir just downstream) for the Endesa hydroelectric power plant in Ízbor. It also helps with flood control and irrigation. The top of the dam is 110 m (360 ft) above the river , so we had a dizzying view of the area called salto del lobo - metaphorically so narrow a wolf could jump over it.

The reservoir is at 85 % capacity this week - a heartening sight, since on many of our recent trips the water in various reservoirs has been dismayingly low. It’s hardly rained at all since we’ve been here in Andalucia, so I guess the reservoir must be full from rain that fell in the tremendous storms of January and February.

On the walk back, Ned immediately recognized a nightingale singing because he has heard it so often when listening to Respighi’s Pines of Rome. (That was the first orchestral piece to incorporate electronic sound, using a 1910 recording of a live nightingale.)
Unfortunately, we can’t upload an audio recording to FindPenguins. We should have videotaped it.Read more