Lorca’s water route

Short and flat circular route to be done on foot, with the freshness of the water of the irrigation ditches of the fertile plain of Fuente Vaqueros and the river Cubillas as fellow hikers. The path starts at the Museum-Birthplace of Federico García Lorca, passes by the first school of the poet and enters, between crops and poplars, the Martinete Mill, which supplied electricity to the Royal House of Soto de Roma.

Route data

ROUTE LENGTH:
8.3 kilometers
ESTIMATED DURATION:
2 hours
HOW TO DO IT:
On foot
Download

Places that make up the route

In this house Federico was born in 1898 and spent his first years before moving to Valderrubio. He soon entered school and soon also discovered his love for reading, theater and music. As an adult he would recall his childhood: “My childhood is learning letters and music with my mother, being a rich boy in the village, bossy”.

ROUTE DESCRIPTION

Starting to walk from the Museum-Birthplace of Federico García Lorca in Fuente Vaqueros, the route enters a few meters ahead in the Paseo de la Reina, so called because it is marked by shady plane trees, now centenarians, planted on the occasion of the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to this municipality.

On the right there is a brick building, which housed the first school attended by the poet and where his mother, Vicenta Lorca, was a teacher. You can still see the bell that marked the beginning and end of classes and recess. The property currently houses the Lorca Study Center.

Federico, seated on the floor in the center, poses with the girls of the Fuente Vaqueros kindergarten.

Federico, seated on the floor in the center, and the teacher, Doña Vicenta Lorca, pose with the girls of the kindergarten of Fuente Vaqueros. / Photo: FGL Foundation

The path continues along the Cuarto de los Manzanos Road and enters the fertile plain, between fields of asparagus, corn, artichokes, garlic and some fruit trees, until, little by little, there are only poplar trees.

At the side of the road there are ditches, some smaller and some larger. The latter here are called ‘barras’.

MARTINETE ESTATE
The route approaches the Cubillas River and, although you will never see its course, you will be able to hear its murmur. This river accompanies the path for a few meters to the Martinete Farmhouse, where there was a mill that also served as an electricity factory for the Royal House of Soto de Roma. Next to the remains of the mill there is a fountain that emanates clear and fresh water, but it is not advisable to drink it.

The trail continues next to the irrigation channel-aqueduct that carried water to the Martinete Mill. Just to the left of where this irrigation ditch begins there is another old construction, the Mocatea Farmhouse. The path continues between irrigation ditches and poplar groves until it returns to the fields and then to the village of Fuente Vaqueros.