Roncal valley

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Location of the Roncal Valley in the Navarre region

The Roncal Valley (Basque Ronkari or Erronkari , Spanish Valle de Roncal ) is a comarca (or Mancomunidad ) and a Pyrenees valley in Navarra , Spain .

geography

Esca River in the Roncal Valley

The Roncal Valley is the easternmost valley in Navarra and borders on the French regions of Béarn and Lowernavarra, on the Spanish side on the provinces of Huesca and Saragossa of the Aragon region . To the west is the Salazar Valley . Navarre's capital, Pamplona, ​​is around 90 km away.

The Esca River flows through the Roncal Valley . The climate of the Roncal Valley is characterized by the mountains.

The highest peak belonging to the valley is the mountain Mesa de los Tres Reyes with 2,428 m, which is located within the Larra-Belagua group.

Localities

Isaba

The Mancomunidad ( joint municipality ) Roncal Valley with the main town of Roncal includes the seven villages of Uztárroz, Isaba, Urzainqui, Roncal, Burgui, Garde and Vidángoz.

economy

Traditionally, forestry and livestock ( sheep and cows ) as well as cheese production ( Roncal cheese ) are practiced in the Roncal Valley . Nowadays tourism , especially agrotourism , also occupies an important position.

The main tourist destinations in the Roncal Valley are the hiking and cross-country skiing areas of the Pyrenees (Larra-Belagua group).

Tradition and history

Cattle drive

In 882, the people of the valley of Sancho García , King of Navarre, were granted the right to graze sheep in the distant Bardenas in return for their work in the war against the Moors . Even today, the cattle are herded on the designated cattle drive routes, the Cañadas Reales , from September to May .

Timber transport

The lumberjacks have been using the Esca River for centuries to transport wood tied together in rafts to the Ebro . This historic timber transport takes place in the spring, when the meltwater from the Pyrenees causes the rivers to rise, and is still celebrated every May as the Día de la Almadía .

Pasture lease

French cows have been grazing in the mountain meadows of the Roncal Valley since around the 15th century. Every year the valley residents receive three two-year-old cows as a tribute from their French neighbors in the Béarn border region , el Tributo de las Tres Vacas . This agreement ( la Junte de Roncal ), first mentioned in a document in 1375, is considered Europe's oldest still valid international treaty. For the ceremonial handover, the mayors of four of the seven Spanish municipalities in the Roncal Valley meet with their six French colleagues from the Barétous every July 13 at the La Piedra de San Martín border pass . The ceremony follows a precisely prescribed sequence and is now part of a folk festival.

language

Nowadays, only Spanish is spoken in the Roncal Valley . The Basque language native to the valley with its own dialect, Erronkariera, was in use until the beginning of the 20th century. In 1992, the last person to speak the valley's own Basque dialect died.

Personalities

Web links