La Jarosa Reservoir, reservoir in Community of Madrid, Spain
La Jarosa is a reservoir in the Sierra de Guadarrama, within the Community of Madrid, surrounded by pine forests and oak trees. It sits in a valley and is encircled by a walking path that follows the shoreline closely.
The reservoir was built in 1968, flooding the site of an abandoned medieval village called La Herreria. When water levels fall, the ruins of a small chapel known as Ermita de San Macario appear along the shore.
The name La Jarosa comes from the jara, a shrub with white flowers that covers the slopes around the lake. In spring, these plants bloom in large numbers and give the whole area a particular look and scent.
The reservoir is located northwest of Madrid and is easy to reach by car, mainly via the A-6 highway. The circular path around the water is flat enough to be walked by most visitors without any special equipment.
Near the reservoir grows a forest of Laricio pines, recognizable by their silvery bark, some of them over 500 years old. These trees stand along the hiking trails and are easy to spot as you walk through the woods.
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