A route through the Júcar canyons, the Molinar hydroelectric power station and its long tunnel

Reservoirs are often built in impressive locations, and a good example can be found in the province of Albacete, Spain.

An exploration of the Morrot tunnels under Montjuic mountain, in Barcelona
The interior of an ancient cross-shaped 16th century underground gallery in Spain

There, in the town of Villa de Ves, is the Molinar reservoir, built between 1948 and 1951 to expand the capacity of another smaller old dam built in 1907 by the Spanish Hydroelectric Company, which in turn was built on the basis of an old medieval dam built here by the Arabs. The current reservoir is nestled in the canyons of the Júcar River, a spectacular site with high rock walls.

A few kilometres from the reservoir, a hydroelectric power station was built, now abandoned. As the blog Storming the World explained in 2020, "the water from the dam traveled horizontally for almost five kilometers parallel to the Júcar river gorges until it reached a height of 65 meters above the valley floor, from where it fell through huge pipes to the power plant." The water made this journey through a long tunnel through which a truck could circulate. On the blog Olmo de Villa de Ves you can read a complete article published a few months ago about this old power plant, abandoned since the 1960s.

Yesterday, in its first video of the year, my favorite YouTube channel, Aventuras Entresierras (if you are not subscribed, you are taking too long to do so), published an interesting video that takes a route through the Molinar reservoir, the Júcar canyons, the old hydroelectric power station and its long tunnel. This adventure was led by the brave and intrepid Alfred (every time I mention it I hear shouts of enthusiasm from his fan club here in Vigo) and its two human companions (the video is in Spanish, you can activate automatic English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):

This time I had a hard time choosing four screenshots as previews for this video, because it's full of spectacular images. Here we can see the Júcar Canyons.

The current Molinar reservoir. It is located in the northeast of the province of Albacete. It has a height of 28 meters and a length of 120 meters at its crest. In the video you can see the inside of the tunnel that appears on the left. The longest tunnel, which connected the dam with the Molinar hydroelectric power station, is the one you see at the top of this entry.

The old village that housed the workers who built the hydroelectric plant and the tunnel. They lived there with their families during the years that the construction lasted. There was a church, a school and a grocery store. Today it is all abandoned.

The ruins of the old Molinar hydroelectric power station. In the video you can see its interior and the very long staircase (worthy of appearing in "The Lord of the Rings") that ascended up the mountain from the building.