The closure in 1970 of the railway that once crossed the region marked the end of an era in communications for Los Pedroches. However, in 1992, with the opening of the Madrid–Seville high-speed railway line, trains once again crossed these lands, restoring the area’s historic role as a route between the Castilian plateau and southern Spain.
Los Pedroches has been linked to travel and communication for centuries. In the Andalusi period, the gentle relief of the land favoured a network of routes with strategic and defensive functions. One of the most important was the road from Toledo to Seville, which crossed Belalcázar and branched towards Seville and Córdoba through Hinojosa del Duque, Belmez and Espiel. Other significant routes included the Azogue road, linking Almadén with Córdoba, and the so-called Armilat road, which ran from Villanueva de Córdoba towards Puerto Mochuelo.
This place forms part of that long history of infrastructure serving communication. The design and technical requirements of the high-speed line demanded major earthworks, tunnels and viaducts to overcome valleys and gentle undulations. The new route also introduced a marked cut in the landscape, dividing parts of the dehesa and interrupting older paths that required specific solutions to maintain ecological continuity and the movement of wildlife.
From this point, shortly before the entrance to a tunnel, visitors can enjoy one of the best-preserved and most beautiful dehesas in the region: a landscape of great ecological and cultural value which, despite transformation, remains a witness to the passage of paths, trains and travellers through time.
