As a blessing has been rain in the wetland manchego, able to extinguish the fire of their underground mobs. The old hunting ground of kings and generals is, again, haven for birds and visitors ....
Black on white, the first historical references to Tables are hunting. They appear in the «Book of the Hunt» The Infante Don Juan Manuel (1325) as good for falconry, to reflect the «Xuela is born in the syrup on villar of the furnace and enters Gadian looking for sands in this River there is many years and herons and cranes and all the hunts. But the fish ayuso source about everything is more reeds and almarjales agora and very bad steps… «
The game has attracted kings and notables Tables, from Felipe II , who registered the site in the «Topographic Relations» the 1575 and ordered to be saved well by offering rich hunting, up to Alfonso XII and the General Prim, who in the early 1870 visited the area, managed by the Society of Hunters seen by Marti. Historic property of the Order of Calatrava, moved from pasture area and firewood to private hunting, National Hunting Reserve after the Civil War and, trying to mitigate the disaster that caused it to dry in the years 50 and 60, National Park from 1973.
Devastated by fire
Since then, slow decline and increasingly thirsty, until the news of the fire reached. The basement of the National Park of Las Tablas burning s late 2009 and nothing could stop. The mobs that are your glass, dry and exposed to oxygen after millennia, are able to go into spontaneous combustion, showing only clue as smoke coming out of the cracked earth surface. Heaven has lent a hand this winter and has left a lot of water. So as to turn the hell and push up the level of the aquifer 23 – where the La Mancha plain and the park itself settle – to nine meters below the surface, something never seen in decades.
There are signs that still inform visitors of the dangers of fire and Jesus, our guide, reminds suffered burns on the legs by her grandfather and great-grandfather to sink into the embers of another similar fire years ago. Now, momentarily away the ghost, the saline waters overflow the Cigüela (o Gigüela, as it is called here) sweets and revives Guadiana near 2.000 hectares of this Biosphere Reserve.
A new life
Reborn the eggs or submerged meadows of algae, first link in the food chain to the inhabitants of the Special Protection Area for Birds. Ducks Colorado, coots and mallards, herons, egrets and herons; loons and jugs, everyone expected the watchful eye of the eagle lagoon on stage that rotates the green and gold of reeds and seasonally masiegas.
There are few fish that populate Tables («and falls very new waters«, remember our cicero) but mosquitofish and others of similar size and make an appearance as future ambassadors tents, togas of ARBOS. Species that were once food for fishermen, to trap the light garlito or carbide, sought them in their flat-bottomed boats.
One of these vessels ( Property of the last fishermen of the area and photographed countless times on dry mud as a sign of the agony of the Park) appears now flooded under 70 centimeters of water, with wooden walkways linking the islands of Entradilla, Rest and Bread. The terrain is rooting by wild boars that thrive here more than otters, foxes or rabbits. So, that its population must be controlled to prevent them from leaving the limits in search of easy food cornfields and other crops.
Close, suffered a grove of tamarisk (shrubs thanks to the lack of competition and soil conditions here are arboreal) Splashes of whimsical shapes the waters edge. It seems that, a la luz de la luna, its twisted branches and trunks in balance almost impossible give you a more than adequate scenario to owls.
Dry eyes Guadiana
Several buildings tower over the landscape: Observatory acclimatization Lagoon, the Pan Island, the reconstructed cabin and the old guards Jesus Bautista García Consuegra, Molemocho mill and even some cemented into the horizon, water beyond. They are signs of man's hand ago 3.700 years sought refuge here, as witness the culture of Las Motillas, now converted into fortified wells dotting the slopes Upper Guadiana Basin.
Lack of water, pollution and irrigated agriculture have remained Tables on the brink for decades. Still, estimated 21.000 fleece illegal wells the aquifer and there is the paradox that the same government that once promoted water wild spending today take the wallet to buy the remaining to irrigators. Only rainfall has made it possible for the hell of fire move in hope. Optimists even dream of another possible miracle of Nature, if rains persist: the nearby Guadiana eyes, dry from 1987, well again. But that's another story.
The trip
The road
From the IV road at the height of Puerto Lápice, road 420 and then 430 takes us Coldstream.
Since there is marked the exit to the park, unless 15 miles down the CM4114.
A nap
The nearby Coldstream has some small hotels for overnight and early in the morning looking for birds, as the Doña Manuela (Psseo del Carmen) or Tables (Virgen de las Cruces, 5).
The cheapest option is to sleep in the Hostel Bed, which has room for up to five people and offers full board for less than 30 EUR (21,60 for children 30 years).
A table set
In Coldstream, Still Life (Luchana, 20) or Posada (Pl. of Spain, 19) menus offer battle even on weekends and public holidays 15 EUR, washed down with wines or close Valdepeñas.
Something more elaborate and in the vicinity of the 24 – 30 EUR, Tasting menus are typical dishes of La Mancha: oil and gas, gruel, ratatouille, asadillos, lamb ...
Highly Recommended
Approaching Tables at dawn or dusk. They are the best times to see birds and avoid crowds of visitors.
Binoculars, comfortable clothing, proper footwear and bird guide are essential to enjoy the ride.
Stops are mandatory:
– Visitor Centre and Interpretive Center ( to the Park entrance).
– Water Interpretation Centre in Coldstream (work of local architect M. Fisac)
– Hydraulic Mill Molemocho (appointment: 926 693118)
– Walking tours of the routes of the park or in 4×4 by the restricted area in general visits.
Www.destinosmanchegos.com information on the web or phone: 902 52 02 00
