This path, the old road from Barbate to El Palomar de la Breña, runs along the northern border of the La Breña and Marismas del Barbate Natural Park, the dominant tree species being the stone pine from the reforestation efforts carried out between 1895 and 1926, whose objective was to slow down the advance of the coastal dunes, as well as fixing the soil to protect it from erosion.


We start the tour in the place known as San Ambrosio, next to a horse arena, continue along a path that runs on the right bank downstream of the Arroyo de Mondragón, until it ends at the Camino de Los Veteranos. The waters of this stream, which only exists in rainy seasons, will flow intothe wetlands of Barbate.


The stone pine is accompanied by typical Mediterranean species such as mastics, broom, fan palms, wild olives, rockrose and junipers, as well as aromatic plants that give this natural park a special aroma, including rosemary, lavender, coast tarweed and sideritis angustifolia.


As we advance we can observe the different sizes and dispersion of the repopulated pines due to the continuous movement of the sand and the lack of moisture in it. This makes this environment a difficult habitat for vegetation, despite the features that this pine has to survive in these places, such as, for example, they stand salinity well and have well-developed roots to extract water from the deeper layers of soil.

In the open spaces that we find, sometimes due to the harshness of the habitat and other times due to the action of man creating firebreaks, we can observe places and the infrastructure of the geography of Cadiz.

Almost at the end of the trail, at a high point (viewpoint) we can take a moment to observe the effects of an old quarry in the Arroyo de Mondragón, from left to right we can see a wind farm, the towns of Vejer de la Frontera, Medina Sidonia and Benalup, in the background, the highest peaks of the Natural Parks of Los Alcornocales, first and then Sierra Grazalema, then and in front Las Marismas de Barbate and La Sierra del Retín.


The northern orientation and the Arroyo de Mondragón stream, give the first half of the route a very different microclimate to that of the rest of the park, so we will find riparian species such as poplars, brambles, vines, and typical species of cork oak forests such as cork oaks, strawberry trees and ferns. In the second half of the hiking trail we move away from the stream until we reach the aforementioned viewpoint, soon after crossing a firebreak area and a fossilised dune.


This path runs through the dune front, which today is stabilised due to the efforts of man over the years.