Robin Pilcher

If you happen to Google ‘Sierra de Aracena’, you will probably find words describing the area as ‘más bonita’ (most beautiful), ‘la tranquilidad’ and ‘la communidad’, while many references are made to ‘flores y fauna’ and ‘the beautiful woodlands’ of the area.  Rustic Blue Guide describes it as ‘a land of glorious woodlands and far-reaching views, one of Spain’s most beautiful and unspoilt mountain regions’. The Spanish Tourist Board says of it that the ‘Sierra de Aracena and Picos de Aroche house holm oaks and cork oaks, and in several areas, there are chestnut trees that form forests situated in the wettest areas. As for the fauna, the species of predators in the area are of special note – amongst them being the lynx, the imperial eagle and griffon vulture’. That is the reason why, in 2002, UNESCO designated this whole area a Natural Park, to protect this very special part of old Spain from the advances of modern times.

The Sierra, however, is not a simple or backward place. The people who live here are farmers, businessmen, who are as proud and as fiercely protective of where they live and work as they are about creating success for themselves in their affairs. The community spirit in the area is therefore strong and unbroken.

The town of Aracena lies 90 kilometres north-west of Sevilla on the N-433 which is the main route from Sevilla to Lisbon in Portugal. It is a main arterial route, yet it carries no more than two to three thousand vehicles a day. Until 15 years ago, the road was no more than a winding ribbon with passing places, but then EC money was pumped into a fine wide carriageway with strategically-placed overtaking lanes that cut the driving time from Sevilla to Aracena from about 3½ hours to just over 1 hour. Aracena itself was by-passed by a ring road that skirted the town to the north and, in all the time I have lived here, I have never seen a queue or even the merest hint of congestion on the road. However, because of the low volume of traffic, it is a fast road and it has been dogged with numerous fatal accidents.

Now, the powers-that-be want to improve the infrastructure of the N-433 by upgrading it to a ‘vía rápida’ and the plan is to follow the existing road as far as possible. However, when it comes to the Natural Park, they have decided in their wisdom (and with the use of a straight-edged ruler) to drive this road through a large proportion of the small, well-tended farms that surround the town, exactly those which the Natural Park was set up to protect. The plan is devastating. Hundreds, if not thousands, of protected trees will have to be swept away and houses will either be knocked down or have huge viaducts built directly above them; the ‘caminos reales’, the ancient walking tracks that have connected the small, isolated white-washed villages for centuries, will be cut through; power lines to the outlying houses will eternally be disrupted, water wells could easily cease to function; and the road is planned to go straight through the valley where the River Odiel has its source, And then, if the road is built, the traffic will grow heavier in time, and when that happens, the powers-that-be will once again step in to upgrade it to a motorway…

Of course, this has happened in so many other countries and one has to take a balance into consideration between the need for conservation and a country’s desire to drive the economy forward. However, just four kilometres to the south of Aracena, there are hills that roll ever-southward and, although beautiful, they are barren and sparsely populated. If the road has to be built, then this is the most obvious way to direct it, all the way from Sevilla to the Portuguese border. In the millennium year, there was a plan for a motorway to be built on these exact lines, but a change of government…

There is a huge local groundswell against the project. The population want to protect this area for its history and its draw on tourism. The mayor of Aracena is a good man who has the interests of his constituents and the area at heart and I’m sure he will put every bit of pressure on the various ministries to have them re-think their plans. The whole project is still at the initial study stage, but this is the only time being given to raise objections – and they have been with vehemence. One can only hope, however, that the power of the straight-edge rule does not prove to be greater than the voice of utter reason.