Stage 31: Escatrón - Chiprana

A little more than 250 m will be required to reach the old Caspe road; as it passes under it, the trail again rises and crosses the River Martín. On the other side of the bridge, where there is a track, on the left (north), which descends parallel to the river. The Nature Trail takes it and, in barely 40 m, it deviates from it on the right before entering between two plots and taking an old path which ascends to the Ibero-Roman village of El Pueyo. From the pass where it is located, a track descends that connects with a larger one and, after about 700 m, reaches a crossing with an island in the middle. The hiker will continue straight on, cutting through the Gotor meander, as far as a water extraction hut, on the banks of the Ebro.

From this point onwards, along either a path or tracks, you round the Vuelta de Valero. Without ever losing sight of the Ebro, sometimes under sandstone escarpments, in the company of pines and crossing several gorges. Finally, you will reach livestock sheds, known in the areas as mases de Torjué, at the Vuelta de Moros. Shortly after that, you pass the Cerollera huts and the trail turns southeast, seeking a main track. After entering a watercourse leading away from the course of the Ebro, you turn left and take a detour that leads you directly to a promontory over the reservoir, with a water collection hut, a riverside shelter and a good viewpoint over the wide bend of the river, a very popular spot for fishermen. Starting from the intake pipe, the route continues along a step in the rock which, 100 m further on, becomes a path and moves into the Los Cados gorge. You will have cross its riverbed, near a beautifully-executed aqueduct, which is notable for the loss of its single central span. On the other side, the path returns to the riverside and, on a very steep hillside, it reaches the old Bacón orchard, which today is occupied by a tamarisk grove.

A progressive ascent then begins that carries hikers away from the riverbank, to which they will not return until the end of the stage. At a crossroads, where you go straight on, you can see the ruins of the Chipranescos reservoir. This is followed by several other crossroads at which you will change path (left, right, right and, finally, left), before finally leaving the old A-221 Caspe to Escatrón road. Following this infrastructure to the left, passing a pine stand, until you cross the current road and continue, on the opposite side, along a path that descends and leads to the Piarroyos drove road. This is where it meets the Ebro Way of St James. You will then cross a narrow area between sandstone crags (paleochannels), on the left, and pass a pond and a crossroads. The route continues straight on, but visitors can take the lane on the right, which is around 200 m long, to see the Chiprana salt lakes (saladas in Spanish). The Salada Grande is the deepest permanent salt lagoon in Europe at between 5.6 m and 3.6 m deep. A unique spot which has been declared a Directed Nature Reserve.

Continuing east from the crossroads, you will continue along a wide track until you reach the A-221 road, very near the bridge over the Regallo ravine. On the other side, the route takes an entrance on the left and continues along it, parallel to the road, to a rest area that welcomes the visitor with the Way of St James monument. With this structure still in your mind’s eye, you take a dirt track that approaches the river but which, before reaching its course, takes another, in this case ascending, which heads towards a promontory near the reservoir. Turn right, skirting a field of almond trees, before taking a path that ascends in an easterly direction before it ends by going up to the small road that connects Chiprana with its train station. The end is now near and, after a few more metres, you will reach the roundabout that marks the access to the village of Chiprana.