On living slate
"O Courel dos tesos cumes que ollan de lonxe" (O Courel, with its high peaks looking out into the distance) extends between O Cebreiro, entry point from the Way of Saint James in Galicia, and the river Sil to the south, but not touching it. It is one of the oldest lands on the Peninsula. It has manifest geological interest: a multitude of caves and tunnels and the spectacular fold of Campodola (Quiroga), regarded as one of the geological monuments of Europe.
"Terras do lobo, cavorco do xabaril..." (Land of the wolf, the boar’s stomping ground...) O Courel is Galicia’s great green reserve. All the species except coastal ones are represented in this geographical mountain crossroads, with the best of Atlantic and Mediterranean characteristics. There are chestnut trees around the villages and a stronghold of olives in Quiroga. The typical forests of O Courel are the dehesas, a name used to refer to the forests of many other tree species, generally at the heads of the rivers.
"Eiquí síntese ben pouco o que é un home...." (Here one hardly feels what a man is...) Reads the song to the beauty of nature in the verses by the national poet Uxío Novoneyra. The sparse population of these places, where the provinces of Lugo and Ourense come together with the Leon region of El Bierzo, is today one of the oldest in Europe. But the narrow valleys of the Lor, Lóuzara, Selmo and Soldón rivers exude real diversity and history. O Courel’s other heritage, its slate villages the heart of the mountain range, can be found on the green slopes. From Romeor to Froxán and from A Ferrería to Ferramulín, the four cardinal points.