Chapter 1

The source

Not far from Lake Negra… It was back in August of 1913 when the expedition led by the German geographer and librarian Hans Praesent reached the top of Urbión Peak. A photograph taken at an altitude of 2228 metres immortalised his feat. A hunting dog belonging to a local went with them for the entire climb.

Clutching his camera, the German geographer took shots of Urbión lagoon and of the horizon beyond the pass. These images take us back today to a landscape in black and white where, just after the source, the Douro River widens.

Photographs of the expedition to the Urbión Peak

26^th August 1913.Journey to Spain series, 1913.

Hans Praesent and Father Saturio, ready for the expedition to the Urbión Peaks. Quintanar de la Sierra

24-27^th August 1913.Journey to Spain series, 1913.

Quintanar de la Sierra. Hans Praesent with Father Saturio visiting Quintanar before the expedition to the Urbión Peaks

24-27^th August 1913.Journey to Spain series, 1913.

Hans Praesent (3rd from left) with the Zuazo family, the apothecary and Father Saturio in Quintanar de la Sierra

24-27^th August 1913.Journey to Spain series, 1913.

The Baroja brothers

Hans Praesent was not the first person to photograph the climb to the source of the Douro. Right at the beginning of the 20^th Century, the Baroja brothers made the ascent, cutting a path between the snow, the fog and an icy wind, as we can see from the excellent engravings made by Ricardo Baroja. His brother Pío reported the climb in the El Imparcial newspaper between 1901 and 1902; then he was only just thirty years old. He recalled it again later, in the second part of his Memorias de un hombre de acción: El Escuadrón del Brigante [Memoirs of a man of action: the Bandit’s Squadron], (1913).

Pío Baroja
El escuadrón del Brigrante [The Bandit’s Squadron]
1913

Una revolución llamada Baroja [A revolution called Baroja]

1^st July 1972

Blanco y Negro

Together with the Swiss writer and Hispanist, Paul Schmitz, and a pair of civil guards, Ricardo and Pío Baroja had lunch at the top of Urbión:

«We ate on Urbión Peak; in the afternoon we went down to our cave, slept there, and the next day got ready for the trek. We greased our boots with horse fat and tore our blankets into strips to bind around our legs. We looked like Eskimos».

Pío Baroja
The Bandit’s squadron
1913

Engravings from the excursion to the source of the Douro

November 1901

The first stretch

Urbión lagoon

26^th August 1913. Journey to Spain series, 1913.

Several lagoons crown the meeting point between two provinces at the top of the Urbión Peaks. Urbión lagoon is in La Rioja and in the province of Soria we have Negra and Helada lagoons; a little further on are the Larga and Culebra lagoons. At over two thousand metres above sea level, these lagoons protect the first stretches of the river Douro. They are the outward sign of the survival of a hydrological circle that will be fed as it goes along from both banks of the river by tens of tributaries, coming together to create the biggest river basin in the Iberian peninsula.

A legendary lagoon

The power of that landscape did not leave Antonio Machado indifferent either; the renowned poet transformed it into legendary lands, the lands of Alvargonzález.

«I am a man who is extraordinarily sensitive to the place where I live. The geography, the traditions, the customs of the peoples through whose lands I travel, all leave a profound impression, impacting my spirit».

Antonio Machado
La Voz de España
1930

Luis Agromayor

Negra lagoon, Urbión Peaks

circa 1970

Agromayor archive, Spanish Cultural Heritage Institute (IPCE), Culture & Sport Ministry

The land of the Alvargonzález

In Negra lagoon Machado finds the perfect scenario for his drama about the Alvargonzález. Long are the hours during which it receives no direct light. This is a place, in the words of Machado, where the surrounding echo slumbers:

«Llegaron los asesinos / hasta la Laguna Negra, / agua transparente y muda / que enorme muro de piedra, / donde los buitres anidan / y el eco duerme, rodea; / agua clara donde beben / las águilas de la sierra, / donde el jabalí del monte / y el ciervo y el corzo abrevan; / agua pura y silenciosa / que copia cosas eternas; / agua impasible que guarda / en su seno las estrellas. / ¡Padre!, gritaron; al fondo / de la laguna serena / cayeron, y el eco ¡padre! / repitió de peña en peña». The assassins arrived / at Negra lagoon, / transparent, speechless water / that surrounds the enormous stone wall, / where the vultures nest / and echo slumbers; / sparkling water where / the mountain eagles drink, / where the mountain boar / and the red and roe deer all sip; / pure and silent water / that copies eternal things; / impassive water that shields / the stars in its breast. / Father! they shouted; to the bottom / of the serene lagoon / they fell, and the echo “Father!” / rang out again from crag to crag

Antonio Machado
La tierra de Alvargonzález [The land of the Alvargonzález]
Romance with 712 verses. Mundial Magazine in 1912 and in Campos de Castilla [Fields of Castile], 1912.

Machado, Antonio (1875-1939)

La tierra de Alvargonzález [The land of the Alvargonzález]:

1975

Castilla & León digital library.