Monte Xiabre

Mount Xiabre is a mountain in the province of Pontevedra, Spain. It rises between the municipalities of Caldas de Reyes, Catoira and Villagarcía de Arosa. Its altitude is 641 m, and as it is bordering the coast you can see its almost 650 meters of altitude fully. It has a lot of vegetation, because of more than 1,500 mm per year in the area. It is in a kind of mountain range with heights like these: Aguadelo: 413 m. Lobeira: 290 m. A Xaiba: 280 m. Pousadoiro: 220 m.

As you can see, Xiabre is the highest of all the mountains in the area, and by far. From some areas of the slopes of the mountain we can see great views of the city of Villagarcía de Arosa and the Arosa estuary. There are very famous areas in the mountain, such as "Fontefría", which is a beautiful meadow with streams, mountain, picnic tables, etc. where hundreds of families from the area go to spend the day.

In recent years it has suffered many forest fires that have devastated dozens of hectares. One of the most important fires occurred on 23 August 2005, which devastated many areas of the mountain.

This mountain also suffered, like many other areas of Galicia, the wave of forest fires in Galicia 2006, when in "Xiabre" burned hundreds of hectares and clouded with smoke a radius of even more than 5 kilometers.

On the peak of A Xaiba there is an apparently well-preserved hillfort. In several "chans" or flat areas, such as the so-called Rosa de Parroibas, several burial mounds of probable Neolithic chronology have been found. One of these burial mounds, the largest, is located on a spur called Fonte Loureiro. The neighbours of Castrogudín tell several legends that connect the castro da Xaiba with the village through a gabia. They also point out the existence of a tunnel or gabia from Fonte Loureiro.

In 2007 the press published the location of petroglyphs on this mountain.

Nowadays its innumerable tracks, paths, trails and firebreaks make the Xiabre a common area for the practice of mountain biking, trail running and hiking.