What you can see on the Lake Sanabria webcam
From the terrace of a mountaineering refuge near San Martín de Castañeda, the camera looks south between oak trees to the lake, with the far shore and its ridges beyond. The water shows the weather at a glance: calm and blue on a still day, grey and ruffled when the wind gets up, hidden when mist fills the valley. The trees that frame it change colour with the seasons, gold and copper in autumn. It plays on Windy as a time-lapse of the day.
Lake Sanabria from the San Bernardo refuge
The camera is on the terrace of the San Bernardo refuge, run by a mountaineering club from Zamora, on the hillside above the north shore near San Martín de Castañeda. It looks south through a gap in the oaks: in front, the treetops of the slope falling to the shore; in the middle, the long blue sheet of the lake with a pylon standing on the near side; and beyond, the wooded ridges of the far shore under a wide sky.
It is the view to check before a day by the lake. A mirror-flat surface reflecting the clouds means a still day for a swim or a boat; ripples and grey water mean wind; and on autumn and winter mornings mist often hides the lake completely. Windy plays it as a time-lapse of the day.
A lake from the ice age
The lake covers about 3.7 km² (1.4 square miles) at around 1,000 m (3,280 ft) above sea level, and is 53 m (174 ft) deep at its deepest point. The River Tera flows in at one end and out at the other. Since 1978 it has been the heart of a natural park, with the granite plateau of the Sierra Segundera above it, dotted with smaller glacial lakes. The lake also has a sad chapter: in January 1959 a dam on the Tera, high above it, burst, and the flood swept through the village of Ribadelago on its shore, killing 144 people.
When to watch Lake Sanabria
Spain is one hour ahead of the UK and Ireland. In summer the beaches along the shore fill with swimmers and picnickers, and the water is usually calmest in the morning. Autumn turns the oak and chestnut woods gold, and in winter the mountains around the lake are often white with snow. Early mist can lie on the water and lift as the day warms up.
Around Lake Sanabria
San Martín de Castañeda, just above the camera, keeps the remains of a Cistercian monastery that now houses the natural park's visitor centre. Puebla de Sanabria, about 10 miles (15 km) away by road, is a walled town on a ridge above the River Tera, crowned by its castle and listed among the most beautiful villages in Spain.
Getting to Lake Sanabria
The high-speed line between Madrid and Galicia stops at Sanabria AV station, about 12 miles (19 km) from the lake. By road, Vigo and Porto airports are each about 160 miles (255 km) away, and Madrid about 235 miles (380 km).