Sieso de Huesca

Sieso de Huesca is situated south of the Sierra de Guara and is easily reached from the main road between Barbastro and Huesca. Coming from Barbastro, turn right in Angüés and drive towards Casbas de Huesca and then Sieso. The village of Sieso is situated at the left side of the road. There is a bus shelter at the right side. About 50 m earlier is the start of a farmer's road which will bring you eventually to La Fábrica. Start walking and you'll soon find and old washing place with nice tiles. Some time after that you'll find the markings of the GR11 coming from the right. Follow the GR11 down into the valley and you'll soon reach the mill (about 4 km from the start).
The mill is muy ruinoso but the dam is worth the visit. Nice spot for dragonflies also!
The mill is on the Río Formiga.

Pictures: 17.VIII.2006

Several maps still mark the position of the former mill with La Fábrica. This is a word commonly used for mills generating electricity. With only the outer walls upright, the construction is in a very bad state. The mill had two storeys. I don't think there were any inside walls at ground level.

I couldn't find anything relating for sure to the business of making electricity. One of the outer walls (right in pict. 2) features some horizontal slits. They served probably to bring the power cables to the outside of the building. A huge tube emerges from the lower half of the opposite wall. This is where the turbine was located.

The mill may then be fallen into rubble, but the dam (6, 7) is still going strong. The thick walls built from big bricks remind me of the dams of Abiego (Río Alcanadre) and Alquézar (Río Vero).

A channel starts from each end of the dam. The channel at the left bank (8) carried water to a zone with patches of arable land now abandoned. This channel is now permanently dry.

The channel starting at the right bank is the real supply channel to the mill. It is covered during the first few meters (yellow arrows in 11) and provided with a nice escape door (9, 10). It's still in use to carry water to the field of pict. 11. It then continues along the southern side of the field to emerge at the shortest side (pict. 11 left) next to the access road.

The sand track leading to the field (12) first runs between the earthen walls - thus inside the channel - and then turns left (12) to continue parallel with it (13) but outside. The road will soon cross the channel again (depth of 13) and then meander up hill. From that point the channel runs straight to the mill (14, 1). A valve (5) is situated near the entrance (3).