CR Adventures 05622: Marisma Isla Cristina y Via Verde del Litoral y Ayamonte

Our amazing bike ride gets started with a visit to the beautiful Wooden pedestrian bridge with access to Praia das Gaivotas or the original in Spanish, Playa de Las Gaviotas, in Isla Cristina. It is about 200 meters long from where you can take some amazing photos.
Whilst we were there a stork was wading in the shallow waters adjacent the bridge.
We continue our journey through the Isla Cristina town where the bells were ringing load and clear and on across the bridge observing the fishing boat fleet on our left.
At the salt flats we stopped to take some pics as the reflections were amazing as there was no wind.
Continuing forward we pick up the Via Verde del Litoral (Coastal Greenway) path that is an old railway line.
Along the path to Ayamonte we come across a beautiful water mill and a steam train watering station all disused now though.
For the bird lovers among you don’t forget your camera as the opportunities are amazing.
We take a welcome break in Ayamonte before embarking on our return journey.

An incredible culmination of sounds, shapes and colours belong to the diverse community of birdlife that feed, breed and nest in the marshes of Isla Cristina and Ayamonte.
The formation of these marshes is the result of a long and complex process, accelerated by human action. The deposit of sediments from the Guadiana River, together with the force of the tides, has formed an extensive complex of tidal marshes that includes streams, branches, estuaries, channels and muddy plains.
By bicycle, on foot or on horseback, you can enjoy trails through this landscape that start from the nearby town of Ayamonte. One of the trails crosses a “via verde” greenway (converted disused railway tracks) and arrives at an old tide mill that was once used to grind cereals and make fishmeal, with which the surrounding fields were fertilised. Further along, the trail enters the marsh. Here you may encounter species such as the pied avocet, with its long, upturned beak. You can also spot the unmistakable spoonbill, with its distinctively shaped beak, which turns yellow in the mating season. These birds feed on molluscs, crustaceans, and fish. It is possible to cover a lot of this area by taking a boat trip through the Carreras estuary. This way you can really appreciate the splendour and magnitude of the environment
Chameleons inhabit the forest areas (mainly stone pines and Phoenicean juniper) at the edge of the dunes, shying away from human activity.
The origin of the town of Isla Cristina is relatively recent. In the 18th century, sea workers from the Mediterranean coast settled in this area, attracted by the abundance of fish. At present too, the fishing community continues to support the economy of the town, together with the income generated from tourism. Its historical art heritage, although recent, is of interest. The altarpieces and paintings of modern imagery in its parishes for example.



Tidal Mills
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Man's ability to take advantage of nature gave birth to these mills that provided work and bread for centuries in a natural area that is now protected.

The famous windmills mentioned in Don Quixote were planted in the most arid and windy part of the La Mancha region, while the Andalusian windmills lived in areas of marshlands and river mouths, sensitive to the movements of the tides and easily access for man. One of these places of singular beauty are the marshes of Isla Cristina.

Located between this town and the nearby Ayamonte -you can walk from one to the other through this territory-, they reflect the strong influence in the area of ​​the mouth of the Carreras estuary and, of course, the Guadiana river. Both from south to north, as we move away from the coast towards the N-431, and from east to west, from the district of El Pozo del Camino towards Portugal, a succession of estuaries (Tablazo, la Cruz, el Pinillo...) and pipes show us a wetland that has been strongly altered by human action.

And it is that, with many possibilities of economic use, in the Isla Cristina Marshes there have been, and still are, artisanal and industrial salt mines or mollusc treatment plants, all in operation, and an outstanding traditional agriculture. The salt pans strongly mark the landscape, giving it personality, with a strange but humid desert aspect, and coexisting with the estuaries of the less altered areas.

In these you can admire the endemic plant species and observe how they change as we move away from the coast. Thus, the marram grass and the wallflower give way first to the almajos and espartinas, and to the pines, broom, juniper and other typical Mediterranean scrub.

The Isla Cristina marshes were declared a Natural Site 33 years ago (Law 2/1989, of July 18) and therefore, endowed with a level of protection by the Junta de Andalucía. It has also been declared a special protection area for birds because it is a reference for more than 140 species as it is a place of passage, wintering and breeding. Flamingos, spoonbills, terns, panasteras and, of course, seagulls, can be seen here.

Another of the differentiating elements of the Isla Cristina marshes are the tidal mills. Invented in Northern Ireland in the 7th century, they are installed in areas like this, sensitive to the movements of the tides and easily accessible to man. In its construction, the construction of a reservoir is essential, which fills with water at high tide. When it is considered that the tide has dropped enough for the stored water to fall with force, the doors of the reservoir are opened so that it returns to its natural place. On its way, it moves wheels that, in turn, make the grinding stone rotate.

The industrial revolution and the new forms of energy production caused the mills to begin a slow decline, replaced by grinding machines powered by steam or electricity. The last known use was in the fifties of the last century, almost clandestinely, reusing some that, despite being abandoned, were in a good state of conservation and due to the needs caused by the civil war.

The Association of Friends of the Tidal Mills of the Huelva Coast, an entity that since 1997 has exhaustively investigated the heritage of these facilities, documented the existence of almost 70 in the province of Huelva and 36 of them were included in the General Catalog of Historical Heritage from Andalusia. He also worked for the restoration of one of them, El Pintado, in the Isla Cristina salt flats, near Ayamonte.

This restoration was carried out in 2007 and was completed two years later with the inauguration of the interpretation center and Ecomuseum of the Molino Maral El Pintado. It is easily accessible by car, although it is advisable to get there on foot or by bicycle from Ayamonte or, on the other side and further away, from El Pozo del Camino after a nice walk through the marshes where you find another tidal mill.