‘Embalse de la Jarosa’ is a resevoir in the mountains of Madrid, fifty minutes drive from the capital, sitting to the north west.
You can do a decent walk from La Jarosa towards the Valle de los Caidos, which probably take two to three hours one way. I say probably, because I tried for a couple of hours, and got a bit lost in the monte, and couldn’t find a path, and had to return.
Still there’s a nice stream that feeds the Embalse that you can walk to the side of and sit by, which attracts butterflies, dragon flies and I even saw a very exotic, large green frog sitting in the river.
The mountains smell of pines and Jara (the plant) and are buzzing with the sound of grasshoppers and their various cousins.
They have the biggest, juiciest ants you’ve ever seen, patrolling and scavenging. Incredible beasts.
