Ancient forests

As the path wends its way into Sarria it passes through thick tangled forest, massive trees line the path and the light is dim, having to pass through many layers of broad leaves. The air is cool (although admittedly this could be because I arrived very late, well into evening, but I like to think it was simply the forest) and the outside world seems far distant, despite being only a few hundred yards away.

These trees are true natives, making up  one of the remaining stands of the forests that once stretched without break across the Iberian peninsula. 

Whilst much of Spain is now completely cleared of trees, Galicia has a fair amount of forest, but these are made up of mainly eucalyptus and pine, with little space for the slow growing indigenous species. As far as I know there are plans to try and change the balance somewhat and plant more of the native trees here in the future. I hope so, I'm sure that as I walked through that ancient forest I heard birdsong I hadn't heard anywhere else in these lands.