We can deduce that this was the dominant landscape a few centuries ago, when after the Reconquista arrived in this village the first inhabitants attracted by the wealth of this dehesa and the possibilities it offered, not only for its cattle, but also to make it "land of bread."

Until the 19th century there were still many oak feet, but it was during this and especially during the first years of the last 20th century that they were significantly reduced, in some cases to devote the land to cereal, vineyard or olive trees and in others to obtaining charcoal. However we can still see some spots of indigenous vegetation in the vicinity of Cabeza Montosa and the hill of the Peones.

This fierce struggle of man against the dehesa has allowed some of the oak to be kept so that its shadow would cover the reapers and the flocks that took advantage of the rashes, or to collect the stones that were taken from the fallow. The fact is that in cases like this, in the face of lack of competition, it is possible that the few specimens of oak have grown more vigorously.

Its trunk has a considerable bearing for an oak and its cup is the widest in the entire province with about 30 meters in diameter and 300 meters in perimeter. This oak is part of the catalogue of unique trees in Spain and is waiting to be declared as Good of Natural Interest, not in vain is of the few millennia trees left on the peninsula.

It is located very close to the railway station of Cabra del Santo Cristo, next to the cortijo of "La Viña." We can access up to the millennial oak through an asphalt road, in good condition, that leaves from the passage to the level that is in the Station. We just have to follow the direction of the signage and within 2 km we will have no doubt when we see it to the left of the road, while to the right the above-mentioned cortijo of the Viña will serve as a reference.

From Cabra we can also walk along the lane that runs through the Fifth, Alamedilla and Gamelloncillo, for which we will walk through space of about 6 km (only one way). It is advisable to finish our route at the station of Cabra and stay in your canteen to take a refreshment with good viandas to recover from the effort, or, if we want to continue to know this ancient dehesa, continue track and return to Hidalgo and the Mill Barranco, but then we will extend our route to about 18 km and have walked by asphalt for a considerable part of the road.

As we approach the Earth Bridge, the landscape becomes ruinous and lunar-looking. The immediate environment is full of hills and saws.

This natural enclave blends forest spots (especially pine trees) with white areas without just vegetation. We can observe wild vegetation and numerous repopulations of different ages. There is a wide range of shrubs and grasses adapted to the scarcity of rain, as it corresponds to its location in one of the most torrid areas of the Sierra Magina region.

In the area we can see around us and on the very floor of the road, the effects of water erosion on the geological materials around us. It is a succession of minions that extend in depth by communicating with each other. When the rain water circulates on the surface, it is soon filtered through these holes, but dragging many suspended particles that sometimes form true clay slices. It is easy to imagine that the erosive power is increasing more and more, so the mixes join each other to form the greater ones. When it affects a road, the risk to circulation is evident, whether by car, bike or even walking. In this process is the origin of the formation of the Earth Bridge.

The process is given on soft materials such as margas, margous sands or uncompact clay sands. If there was a somewhat more compact and resistant material tank above them, it may not be eroded so easily, leaving a package of materials suspended in the air. The objective of this route is to check on-site the extraordinary dimensions of this phenomenon.

Finally remember that we are on the margas of the Cretaceous, a period in which marine animals such as amonites, belemnites, and other gastropods lived, which we can find through the fossilized and pyritized soil.

The landscape is determined by human perception and is the result of the interaction of the elements of nature and man, then human action has conditioned the transformation of the natural landscape and the inclusion of cultural elements that give it value, so it is necessary to preserve and enhance them. We are therefore facing a natural resource that has allowed not only subsistence but also economic activity since man arrived on these lands.

It is now difficult to imagine what this spring and its immediate course would be like without that interaction by which human beings have created a laundry room, which is what we now see in the Birth, or downstream in the Matias and the Birth mills, in the Balsa, the Charcón, the Pileta and Arroyo launchers, or the numerous pools and the network of waterfalls for the irrigation of the place known as the "Site." At some point these infrastructures must have been created and we are likely to have to reassemble long before the repopulation of the Cabrilla Site. Today we will deal only with the environment closest to the Birth, so the relative to what we find downstream of this stream that so much life has spread since time immemorial will be part of the future of a new post.

To try to imagine what those places were like not long ago, when they still fulfilled the task for which they were created, we counted, of course, on the impagable photographic work of Arturo Cerda and Rico, so that we can see in some of their photos also a certain evolution, is the case of the same spring in its natural state prior to its channelling, for not so long ago, until 1910, where today we see the seven years, there was only a plateau from which the crystal waters of the Sierra Cruzada were kept.

It has a rectangular plant facing from northeast to southeast and a walled enclosure. The best preserved wall is the northeast, 18.70 meters long and 4 meters high in its highest corner. It consists of several rows of large-scale stones, on which a wall of tapial, now missing, would be raised. In its interior it retains a seam of regular armchairs, smaller than those of the outer wall, of 6.30 meters in length and 2 meters in width.

Although it dates from Iberian chronology, both ceramic decorated with Iberian ceramic bands andterra sigillataRoman, so you can deduce a continued occupation of the land; as well as medieval ceramics.

Its mission was to monitor and control the communication routes, as it is closely linked to the corridor of the Guadiana Minor River, which communicates the upper valley of Guadalquivir with the highlands of Guadix and Baza.

In 1985 it was declared Good of Cultural Interest.

Location: On the highway of Granada, just at the limit of the municipal terms of Campillo, Cárcheles and Cambil.

Distance: 7 km.

Medium: Tourism vehicle.

Access: Directly via the Granada Highway (A-44)

Location: West of the city centre.
Distance: 7.5 km.
Medium: In vehicle tourism and on foot.
Access route: by road and mountain road.

The predominant indigenous vegetation is the oaks and moans, low mountain of rosemary, lentisco and sabina. Some well-known routes are the Carchelejo-Cazall- Convent, Carchel to Carchelejo by the Barrio de la Grilla or the ascension to the Cueva del Puerto de las Palomas. On the urban periphery of the two cores there are several recreational areas, such as the Parque de la Fuente, the Haza de la Widow and the sports facilities of Carchelejo and Cárchel.