The highlands: the seasons that shaped life

Orea is the highest village in the Alto Tajo at around 1,500 metres, recording the coolest summer temperatures in the region. Checa sits at 1,380 m, Chequilla at 1,360 m, and Megina at 1,280 m. According to studies in Aguaspeña, precipitation is abundant across the high range, heavily falling as winter snow, with an annual mean temperature around 10 °C.

Until the 1970s almost all subsistence was managed communally according to the seasonal calendar: pastures were closed with thorn barriers in May, forests were opened to grazing simultaneously for all households, bread was baked in communal ovens, and herding was performed in turns.

The highlands were also disputed ground. Between 1881 and 1901, Checa farmers were stripped of more than 2,500 hectares of Sierra Molina commons; the Supreme Court annulled that seizure in 1931, yet during the Civil War the high range lay uncultivated.