Nature has been very generous with Costa da Morte, leaving outstanding natural monuments sculpted with the chisels of water and wind over millions of years. There is no need to look further than the sculptural groupings of the Pasarela and Traba rocks and Monte Pindo mount, and such individual works as the Brazal rock, literally, the arm guard rock.
This exceptional rock stands to the south-east of Castelo de Logoso mountain (402 m), a peak that towers over the surrounding landscape. To get there, take the road from Anseán (Os Buxantes, Dumbría) to Brazal and from there continue along the path leading to this natural monument. You can also get there from the hamlet of Logoso (Olveira, Dumbría) or from the village of Hospital (Dumbría).
This colossal granite formation consists of an enormous boulder weighing some 150 tonnes that rests on another that is round in shape, which forms the base, which is why it is called the Pedra Cabalagada (the Ridden Rock). It is impressive just how the upper rock is able to balance on a base so small (an area of less than one square metre).
To explain the origin of this formation, it is necessary to go back more than 300 million years to a time when these granite rocks were formed deep in the Earth’s crust and then rose to the surface and shed the layers of materials that had been deposited on top of them until they lay bare. Erosion by water and the wind moulded these rocks until it created the natural sculpture that can be seen today. On the top of the Brazal rock there are several basins, some of which reach a depth of 50 cm and retain water almost all year round. On the rock that forms the base a large formation can be seen that is more evolved as it has a deep drainage channel.
Modesto García Quintas, a scholar from the municipality of Dumbría, tells us that, in the 1960s, the Pedra Cabalgada ran the risk of disappearing when some workers who were operating a mechanical shovel nearby bet their sandwiches and drinks on the machine’s being able to topple a rock like this one. Either they did not go through with this ill-advised wager or the weight of the rock resisted the power of the machine, but fortunately the natural monument continues to stand.
Near the Brazal rock is the fortified settlement in Castelo de Logoso, a true vantage point over this part of the area of Dumbría, which allows travellers to enjoy beautiful views over the surrounding landscape. The settlement was defended by three walls in the south, and a wall and a moat in the north. There is a legend that there was a pot of gold buried there, which is very common among Iron Age settlements of this type.
