The river Xallas, which takes its name from the district that it crosses, has its sources on the western slopes of Monte Castelo. It runs through some flat land at an altitude of 300 to 400 m for most of its course, until it passes the Fervenza pool. From here, it flows through more uneven terrain and narrows, forming barrier lakes from Ponte Olveira to Santa Uxía. From the latter to its mouth, the slope increases, as does the flow rate of its waters, forming rapids and small waterfalls, until it drops over a vertical granite ramp almost 40 m high, giving rise to the spectacular Ézaro Waterfall, also known as O Cadoiro (the Cascade). It is a unique natural occurrence, since no other river in Europe with a similar flow rate flows out to sea over a waterfall like this one and in a setting as unusual as that of the mythical Monte Pindo.
Father Sarmiento, on his journey around Galicia in 1745, crossed this river on the Barca dos Cregos, the Cleric’s Boat that linked the parishes of Santa Uxía and Arcos, since there was no bridge in this area. He says that here the river Ézaro “arrives having fallen from a great height and is going to plummet into the sea in a little more than half a league” and he adds: “I could not get there to see how it plummets down, but I came very close to the place and I found out that it falls, not making a torrent or cataract, but by plummeting down and making a cascade and making a pool of immense depth, and dangerous, and rising like a mountain of foam and dust, since the Ézaro carries a great deal of water.”
Otero Pedrayo also mentioned this extraordinary waterfall and left us these words: “Between the two [Monte Ézaro and Pindo], the river Xallas drops under the water. The hydroelectric power plant has considerably affected the beauty of this limpid, sonorous fall. The entire river drops down over a bare rock slab.”
Today, this natural spectacle can only be enjoyed to the full on certain days in times of heavy rain, when the spillway gates of the Santa Uxía dam are opened. The rest of the year a waterfall can be seen with the ecological flow rate that is required by law, which can increase on some days at certain hours, if Xeal, the company that owns the dams and hydroelectric plants, permits a greater flow of water.
There are several legends associated with this waterfall and the Cadoiro pool. On the rocks over which the water vapour rises after the spectacular falls there is a cave with a rectangular entrance called the Ventá das Bruxas (the Witches’ Window), about which it is said that it was the entrance to a corridor that led under the falls to a luxurious room where an enchanted princess lived. Any man who dared to break the spell would have to overcome a series of trials and, if he succeeded, he would marry her.
From the car park provided for visiting the falls, there is a very steep road up to the Ézaro lookout point, which stands on a platform. From here you can enjoy impressive views over the mouth of the river Xallas, Monte Pindo and part of the Corcubión ría.
