A watery themed walk

A watery themed walk

Arlia H.E.P. circular

A landmark on the road between Pognana and Arlia is the architecturally beautiful turbine house of the Arlia hydroelectric power station. This walk takes us a little closer to the hidden engineering that lies above the more visible edifice. The outward section of the route takes us halfway along the old road that eventually leads to Sassalbo. In the valley on the left is the fast-flowing Rosaro river, which is used to feed the H.E.P. plant’s small holding reservoir via a covered culvert that diverts water from higher up the river. The route back makes use of a grassy service road that lies on top of the culvert before descending steeply from the reservoir to rejoin the first section of the outward track. Whenever I walk this path, I am reminded of some of the old railway trails that can be found in the English Peak District and the old mineral lines of North Wales. The entire route is on good woodland tracks and paths with far-reaching views of the Rosaro valley.

Walk summary

Grade: ModerateLength: 7km
Circular? YesDuration: 2h
Start: N44.25606º E10.13572ºFinish: Same
Max elevation: 586mMin elevation: 451m
Total ascent: 370mTotal descent: 370m

Equivalent flat distance: 10.23km — multiply this number by the flat distance walking pace (min./km) of the slowest walker for a better estimate of walk duration. NB: see my article on estimating walk durations.

Route map with elevation profile and downloadable GPS track

Download a GPX track for this walk: Download GPX track

Detailed description

The start and finish point for this walk is on the quiet country road between Pognana and Arlia. Alternatively, you could park in Pognana and use the road as an approach path, Either way, from the designated coordinates, head towards Arlia and, shortly after the road sign for the fork in the road, ignore the tarmac road to Arlia and Bottignano and bear right for Mattucaso.

The first part of the track is uphill and made of concrete but soon levels out to become a delightful woodland dirt road — actually the old road to Sassalbo. After crossing some culverts that carry overflow water from the reservoir high above, you will arrive at an old barn where a concrete road climbs steeply to the right and where the dirt road continues straight ahead to the right of the barn. Take the dirt road. You soon cross over the main pipe (green) that carries the water from the reservoir to the H.E.P. turbine hall in the valley bottom.

Stay on the old Sassalbo road. As you approach 3.7km from the start point you will see an incline on your right. The incline crosses a bridge and, almost immediately afterwards, converges with the old road at an acute angle. Take the incline, passing between two stone gate posts and around a cantilevered gate. You are now walking on the covered surface of a conduit that diverts water from the Rosaro river to fill the reservoir above the H.E.P. station. Follow the path all the way to the reservoir crossing several aqueducts and passing several water collection and inspection points along the way.

From the reservoir, which is never really visible, take the concrete road steeply downhill to join the old Sassalbo road at the barn that you passed earlier. The final part of the walk is simply the reverse of the outbound section to the barn.

Gallery

The old Sassalbo road

Image 3 of 20

Now a forest track popular with walkers and mountain bikers

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Nigel Fawcett

One of the many benefits of being retired is that I get to spend so much more time in the great outdoors, not only as a photographer but in exercising one of my other great passions — hill walking. This is a particularly good fit when one’s photography centres around nature and the landscape. There can be few better places to do that than here in the beautiful mountains of Tuscany.