Fervenza do Toxa

Santiago de Compostela / Bandeira / Silleda / Galicia Region, Pontevedra, Spain

About Fervenza do Toxa

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Waterfall Safety and Common Sense

The Fervenza do Toxa Waterfall was an impressive 60m waterfall situated in the lush Galicia Region of northwest Spain.

Yet, for such a big waterfall, we pretty much had the place to ourselves as we really enjoyed the peace and quiet from the relative lack of fanfare of this place.

Fervenza_do_Toxa_060_06082015 - Fervenza do Toxa
Fervenza do Toxa

The photo you see above definitely didn’t do this waterfall justice because it was HUGE.

Indeed, this waterfall gave us quite a different experience than all the other waterfalling experiences we’ve had throughout Spain.

After all, we were becoming conditioned to lower-than-average-flow on all the Spanish Waterfalls that we witnessed during our self-tour of the country in late May and early June 2015.

Yet the thing that really stood out to us about our Fervenza do Toxa experience was that the environment hinted to us that we were in a high rainfall area.

After all, we noticed ferns growing alongside the trail, and we felt the higher humidity as we sweated beads during our short hike.

Fervenza_do_Toxa_017_06082015 - Looking over the ferns towards a town in the distance along the trail to the Fervenza do Toxa
Looking over the ferns towards a town in the distance along the trail to the Fervenza do Toxa

In fact, I had read that this part of Spain was similar in climate to the Pacific Northwest in the USA.

So this place had more in common with the Olympic Peninsula in Washington state than it did the Mediterranean climate of Southern California.

As a result, perhaps the waterfall’s pretty high volume shouldn’t have come as a surprise given these observations.

Hiking to Fervenza do Toxa

We accessed the Fervenza do Toxa waterfall from a steep unpaved road (see directions below).

Fervenza_do_Toxa_079_06082015 - These were the crater-like ruts that I didn't dare take the rental car past on the way to Fervenza do Toxa
These were the crater-like ruts that I didn’t dare take the rental car past on the way to Fervenza do Toxa

On this road, we didn’t feel confident enough to drive a low-clearance passenger vehicle past a few crater-like ruts in one particular switchback.

According to my GPS logs, that probably added another 300m or so of hiking in each direction to the nearly 400m trail (about 800m round trip) to the waterfall’s base.

This road was flanked by what appeared to be a ditch or water channel before we eventually got far enough down the road to reach the signage and vehicular barricade, which marked the official start to the trail for Fervenza do Toxa.

Then, we continued descending on a fern-fringed walkway with glimpses of some nearby towns in the distance beneath power lines.

Fervenza_do_Toxa_020_06082015 - The trail descending to the Fervenza do Toxa
The trail descending to the Fervenza do Toxa

The trail steepened a bit more towards the bottom where there were steps.

Given the humidity during our visit, we knew it would be a pretty sticky hike back up on this upside-down hike.

Nevertheless, at the bottom of the descent, there were stone picnic tables in view of the top part of the Fervenza do Toxa Waterfall.

Then, the footpath pretty much ended right at the plunge pool at the base of the falls.

Actually, it was hard to tell where the footpath ended and where the waterfall’s plunge pool began because parts of that footpath was inundated with water during our visit.

Fervenza_do_Toxa_024_06082015 - Picnic tables with a hint of the top of the lower drop of the Fervenza do Toxa up ahead
Picnic tables with a hint of the top of the lower drop of the Fervenza do Toxa up ahead

The refreshing spray from the waterfall was a welcome relief to the heat and humidity during our visit.

It also rejuvenated us for the sweaty hike back up to our car.

Overall, we had spent a little over an hour away from the car, but again, some of that time was spent walking a little farther than what the authorities probably wanted us to do.

Brief Observations About Gallego

Finally, one thing I noticed about the name Fervenza do Toxa was that it was not Spanish.

Actually, it’s Galician (or Gallego), which appeared to be a hybrid language between Portugese and Spanish.

Fervenza_do_Toxa_041_06082015 - Looking across the plunge pool while feeling the spray from the Fervenza do Toxa
Looking across the plunge pool while feeling the spray from the Fervenza do Toxa

In fact, many of the signs as well as restaurant menus in this part of Spain were in Gallego.

A few things that I picked up while touring this region was that the el and la in Spanish became o and a in Gallego.

I also noticed that the word saída was Gallego for the Spanish word salida or “exit”.

Finally, the word fervenza meant “waterfall” in Gallego, which was why there wasn’t a cascada in its local name though I have also seen it called Cascada de la Toja.

Authorities

Fervenza do Toxa resides near the town of Silleda in the province of Pontevedra, Spain. It may be administered by the municipality of Silleda. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you may get leads from this website.

Maps and Routing Content are for annual subscribers. See Membership Options.
Content is for subscribers. See Membership Options.
Tagged with: bandeira, ourense, santiago, compostela, silleda, galicia, spain, waterfall



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Johnny Cheng is the founder of the World of Waterfalls and author of the award-winning A Guide to New Zealand Waterfalls. Over the last 2 decades, he has visited thousands of waterfalls in over 40 countries around the world and nearly 40 states in the USA.
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