Solana de Burgasé are two valleys in the Pyrenees abandoned in the second half of the 20th century due to its altitude, bad connections and the hard life in those years. They were valleys with very humanized landscapes, villages with solid houses, huge chimneys and terraces, made by narrow gaps in the walls where the land was worked and got food. Nowadays, you can go across the paths and arrive to the villages, but that civilized landscape built during centuries has been little by little removed by nature due to the desertion and the depopulation.
The Solana Valley is located between Vió Valley and the Ara River basin, in the north of the road connecting Fiscal and Boltaña. In Solana you can find the villages of Cajol, Campol, Castellar, Gere, Ginuabel, Giral, Muro, Puvuelo, San Felices, San Martín, Sasé, Semolué, Villamana and Burgasé, all of them connected by old paths. It is important the cabañera (name used for paths) that connects Solana with Fanlo and with the high ports of Vió Valley. This path has been used during centuries for bringing the cattle to the summer grazing. You can also go through a small road to Yeba, a small isolated village between mountains with singular beauty.
Sobrepuerto is located between Ara and Gállego rivers, next to Broto Valley. It is an area with deep ravines and surrounded by peaks, some of them have excellent lookouts of the Pyrenees such as Pelopín (2,007m), Erata (2,005 m) and Manchoya (2030 m). It was formed by these villages: Basarán, Cillas, Cortillas, Bergua, Sasa, Ainielle, Escartín, Ainelle and Otal, the highest (1465 m) and the most picturesque.
It is also advisable for reading. The novel “la Lluvia amarilla, written by Julio Llamazares, taking place in Ainelle village. Nowadays, the pilgrimage to Santa Orosia is carried out, a hermitage in Sobrepuerto which gathered the ancient inhabitants of the valley.
More information in our blog: In Bicycle from Bergua to Santa Orosia