An app to feel the Manzanares river path in El Pardo

Elena Moro Madrid

Madrid

Updated Saturday, March 9, 2024-00:03

"Nature gives me a feeling of freedom, of reflection, of being aware of the environment without further worries."

This is how Juanma Villalba

, a blind person, expresses

the feelings that walking through nature in the company of her guide dog, Urbano, gives her.

«I can't see, but I can feel, I hear the birds, the wild boars, the wind or the rain...».

Juanma, a mountain enthusiast and marathon runner, is the ideal guinea pig to test the guided itinerary for people with visual disabilities that the

National Heritage launched last February in the El Pardo mountain: the Manzanares Fluvial Path

.

A route that has been mapped with Blind Explorer, a free mobile app developed by Green Urban Data, which allows people with visual disabilities to move autonomously and safely in natural environments through sensory guidance by 3D sound and accessible descriptions.

«For example, it warns if the blind person goes off the road or indicates if they have to take a detour.

It also provides information about the environment, the points of interest or if we reach a descriptive panel, it tells about nature or the botanical and animal species there are," explains Rafa Olmedo, Green Urban Data advisor, who accompanies us on the test route and teaches to Juanma the application.

In the app we only have to search for the route we will take, download it to be able to use it without needing coverage and access all the itinerary information, generic for all people and specific for people with visual disabilities.

Roads and trails

The path takes us into the Monte de El Pardo in an itinerary of just three km.

from the Capuchin Bridge to the Monte de El Pardo dam and back.

Easy for sighted people and Level 3 (difficult) for people with visual disabilities, although it is possible to do some parts without help (references from the

ONCE

Foundation , which evaluates the difficulty of a path based on how autonomous the blind person can be from 1 to 5).

Almost the entire route runs along roads and paths, with an irregular surface in some sections, but with a width that makes it easy to be accompanied by other people or a guide dog in parallel.

El Monte de El Pardo is the most important Mediterranean forest in the Community of Madrid and one of the best preserved in Europe.

Almost 16,000 green hectares of which 1,000 are for public use

and the rest restricted for protection.

We visionaries follow Juanma's path, guided in turn by the directions of the app and by Urbano, and we walk the path accompanied by Alfonso Huidobro, a technical forestry engineer from the National Heritage.

«El Pardo was born as a royal hunting ground, the kings have preserved it over the centuries as a closed preserve and that is what keeps it a super special botanical and faunal relic and makes the reserve have incalculable value» .

The hunting use is already mentioned in the Libro de la Montería by

Alfonso XI

.

Since the construction by Enrique III of a hunting pavilion in 1405, it is considered Royal property, and the Royal Decree of Philip II, in 1571, determines its surface and protection zones, which was expanded and culminated with its enclosure by the current wall of almost 100 km.

of perimeter during the reign of Fernando VI.

Villalba consulting with the app one of the information points on the path. MIKAEL HELSING

black stork

Among the diversity of fauna there are 215 species of vertebrates, some of which are mentioned in the Red Book of protected species.

It highlights the abundance of deer, fallow deer and wild boar and the largest concentration of breeding imperial eagles in the world.

«It is an endemic species of the Iberian Peninsula, and in El Pardo we have 15 pairs breeding.

Every year about 18 chicks are born, and since eagles are very territorial, the checkers (young specimens) have flown to other territories to procreate.

There are also seven pairs of another endangered species, the black stork.

In terms of its botanical wealth, El Pardo is largely made up of an enormous holm oak meadow, which coexists with cork oaks, gall oaks, junipers...

In total 463 plant species

.

«It behaves like a lung for the city of Madrid.

It has been proven that the million holm oaks have the capacity to lower the average temperature of the city of Madrid by about three degrees in summer,” continues Alfonso.

"It is a carbon absorption sponge, it is decontaminating us, and the public use area allows us to have a fantastic natural space 10 minutes from Sol."

A natural treasure that both sighted and blind people can now enjoy.

A real hike just around the corner.

Data sheet

Dropdown

ACTIVITY

: New Manzanares River path in Monte de El Pardo.

DISTANCE:

2.9 kilometers.

PECULIARITY

: National Heritage has adapted it to all audiences, including the blind, thanks to signage and an application.START: Puente de los Capuchinos (El Pardo).