The Erbioz gorge

Hiking trail "El Barranco de Erbioz"

Longitud Desnivel Duración Apto Señalización
3,71km 184mt 1:31 H A pie, sin dificultad
Rutas 01 Barranco De Erbioz

Tour one of the most beautiful places in Lezaún and the Guesalaz Valley.

The trail – linear route of Lezaún, Iturgoyen-Lezaún with a height of 131 metres...  The new route is made up as a variant of an existing trail that connects Lezáun and Riezu (the Yerri Valley) and is signposted as PR NA-182 (a small route called the Canyon of the Ubagua River), communicating with the village of Iturgoyen, offering the visitors several walking options that are low difficultly.

The starting point can be in either Lezáun or Iturgoyen as the signage enables both points of departure.  The trail is a linear route, with a total length of 7.4 kilometres (there and back)

Starting from Lezáun the trail runs along the bottom of the gorge known as the Canyon of the Ubagua River, sharing a small section with a small route marked out (from Lezáun until the beginning of the trail.)

From this place the route starts climbing till Iturgoyen reaching a natural balcony where you can see beautiful panoramic views, as well as an interesting and complete image of the Canyon of the Ubagua River.  The trail was traditionally used as a route between the two towns and as a cattle path, today virtually the use has disappeared due to the new road network and the abandonment of rural areas and their traditional uses.

The predominant vegetation consists of holm oak, boxwood and oak trees that alternate with rocky and stony elements.

This trail has high ornithological interest, with great views of the Canyon of the Ubagua River, the Erbioz Gorge and beautiful century-old holm oaks on the way.
This trail runs through a landscape of the Mediterranean Atlantic with beech, holm oaks, oak and boxwood trees.  The fauna that you can find on the way are foxes, boars, genets and birds of prey; you can especially see the griffon vulture.

Complete description of the route

The trail starts at a wide path that climbs up the mountain, soon we find a fork and we take the trail to the left.

A few meters later we find a way that makes us leave the trail and we go into the mountain.  It is important that we follow the signs.  If we turn around the views is beautiful, we can see villages of the Yerri and Guesalaz Valley, the splendour of the Alloz Reservoir and the aquatic activities.  We can also see the mountain range of Lóquiz and Andía.

We continue crossing the mountain amongst very rich and varied, holm oak, boxwood, pine, etc...  Little by little with a small ascent with various zig-zags we arrive at the summit of the mountain.Here we have the option of going to the summit of Iguste that is less than 1,000 metres in height, but it has beautiful views. However, the trail runs in the opposite direction.

Soon we can make out the villages such as Arguiñariz, Guirguillano or Echarren which are at the bottom the lands of “Señorío de Sarria” and on the other side the Arga River.  From here we can also visit the uninhabited village of Sorakoitz, where we can see an ancient farm house and Church.  The village was heavily affected by the rural depopulation in the mid-twentieth century.

The Mediterranean vegetation is typical in the area, and it accompanies us part of the way.  We walk through a wide stretch which is immerged in plantations of Austrian pines and other areas are filled with field crops.Gradually we arrive at the road that comes from Garisoain in the direction of Guirguillano.
We arrive at the Summit of Guirguillano and again we are at a privileged spot, with views in all directions.  We continue the trail of the Roman Road.  It is a pleasure to be able to walk on a road that is well conserved from this era.

From this moment on we walk surrounded by field crops, cereal, sunflowers, etc... and the path is flat or descending.

We cross the road again that comes from Garisoain in the direction of Muzqui and we enter into paths of consolidated land that takes us to Garisoain passing by a magic point.  The fountain and the wash house of the village are about 500 metres from the village.