The Cañadas Reales of the UNESCO Global Geopark Volcanes de Calatrava, Ciudad Real (Spain): a backbone of geomorphological heritage and Geotourism

The Cañadas Reales (‘Royal Cattle Paths’) have been a transit route for transhumant cattle on their annual winter pilgrimage from northern Spain to central and southern Spain from their creation in the 13^th century to the present day. Their origin dates to the Roman roads and tracks in Hispania. Transhumance was included in the list of UNESCO Intangible Cultural World Heritage in 2023. The Cañadas have been of great importance in the history of the territory of the UNESCO Global Geopark Volcanes de Calatrava, Ciudad Real (Spain). Within it, the areas of Campo de Calatrava and Alcudia Valley are the places where cattle from the northhibernate. Three cañadas—the Toledana, Segoviana and Soriana Oriental—converge and form the backbone of the geopark, together with other secondary cattle paths (cordeles, veredas and coladas).

The geopark shows a high level of geodiversity and geoheritage on an area of 4,383 km² belonging to 40 municipalities, linked to two Spanish Geological Contexts of International Relevance (Law 33/2015): the Mercury Mineralizations and the Neogene–Quaternary Volcanism of the Iberian Peninsula.

This work presents an inventory of the geomorphological heritage of volcanic and natural protected areas at the regional and European level (Natura 2000 network), as well as other resources of historical–cultural and ethnographic heritage, linked to the Cañadas Reales (sour water fountains, hot springs, baths, transhumance architecture, abandoned mines...). The objective is to promote geotourism through sites of geotouristic interest (natural and cultural) and through actions to be carried out by the Geopark's management body.

The proposed actions focus on refurbishing the official hiking routes within the Cañadas (georoutes or geoitineraries), providing them with informative content; creating interpretation centers for the Geopark ('Volcano House') and relative to transhumance, taking advantage of historic or disused buildings (such as the airport visitor center); resuming training courses for Geopark guide staff; and taking advantage of the synergies of the transport network (highways, high-speed trains, airport).