Secorún

Secorún is an abandoned village in the Guarguera region. It's a remote spot but easily reached thanks to the road between Boltaña and Lanave. Between km 23 and 24 —that is about 4 km after Laguarta, coming from Boltaña— you'll find a gravel and sand road leading down into the valley. That's the place to leave your means of transport. Walk down and look carefully in a sharp turn to the right. The mouth of the cárcavo (1) can (barely) be seen between the vegetation. There is almost nothing left of the mill, but the site is quite interesting because of the waterworks.
The mill got its water from the Río Guarga.

Pictures: 5.iii.2010

(2) Cárcavo (white) and pond (blue line).

There is almost nothing left of the construction. Only the first rows of stone of the walls (3) and a couple of mill stones between them. The stones are dressed in the sickle pattern (4) which is the most common on stones not coming from La Ferté. The stones are rather big with a ∅ = 138cm (usually at least 10cm less).

The mill may be gone, but the waterworks are preserved and well worth a visit. Pict. (2) illustrates the huge difference in height between the wheel in the cárcavo (white stroke) and the maximum level of the water in the pond (blue stroke). The blue stroke coincides with the top of the wall in (5).

(7) Canal is still clearly defined.

The embalse —now planted with trees— is huge (6) and lies high above the surrounding meadows (also victims of the reforestación of I.C.O.N.A.).

From the far end of the reservoir a clearly defined canal (7) can be traced to its origin about 450m away. The channel follows the slope and after about 250m turns sharply to the right and ends abruptly in a solid mass of stones like the base of a bridge (8, 9). A similar wall (8, 10) is found at the other side of the Barranco de Gabardón (tributary of the Río Guarga). I assume that a carved out tree bridged the gap. The canal then continues its way for another 200m.

This section is peculiar because the channel is doubled (12) for about half of its length. Soon after the azud (14) on the Río Guarga the canal branches (13) in two parallel waterflows (12) fusing back into one later (11) on.