Dark, fascinating and enigmatic is how the Laguna Negra de Soria could be described. In fact, it is only 50 kilometers from the capital. Is about a natural memory of the glacial period of the Quaternary, between the municipalities of Vinuesa and Covaleda and almost 2,000 meters above sea level (although it is possible to access the area by car), in the heart of the Picos de Urbión mountain range.
Part of the Natural Park of Laguna Negra and Circos Glaciares del Urbión, it also has its place in the book Fields of Castile. And it is that, between the surroundings of the lagoon and the towns of Duruelo and Covaleda, it seems that they are located the set of lurid crimes about which Antonio Machado wrote in the poem The land of Alvargonzález.
Nor does it help the mysterious air of the place that its waters are a deep dark blue due to its eight meter depth or the fact that it is a glacial area makes it the landscape that has been sculpting the ice over time is magical.
Being so, no wonder it has inspired all sorts of legends: that if it has no bottom, that if it communicates with the sea through underground caves or that there is a being that lives in its bottom and that devours everything that falls into it…. In the case of the legend of Machado , it is in this lagoon where the children get rid of their father’s corpse in the family tragedy that, years later, would be adapted to the cinema.
Beyond stories and anecdotes to tell on an excursion to this peculiar place, the truth is that it is a recreational area with wooden steps around the lagoon. Every year, on the first Sunday in August, the traditional Travesía a Nado is held there, which brings together a large number of participants who are not afraid of its icy waters.
In addition, it is not the only thing to see in the natural park. There are other lagoons: Laguna Larga, Laguna Helada or Laguna Mansegosa. In addition, lovers of hiking they have the Pico Urbión, 2,228 meters high and the source of the Duero river.
Photos | Soria You can’t imagine it
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