Nobody knows why this oak was left standing. The Roble Escarcio grows alone in an open, treeless meadow on the ridge facing Villamudria, on land that was most likely farmed or grazed until fairly recently, and even a published book on the singular trees of Burgos could not explain why this one Pyrenean oak survived when everything else was cleared. It survived well. Both of the local writers who have described it put it at about 600 years old, and it is close to seven metres round, a figure its sources give anywhere from 7 to a little over 7.7 metres depending on who held the tape. That is a very big trunk for any oak. It sits on the Junta de Castilla y Leon's list of protected trees. Its hollow trunk opens wide enough to look into, and people have used it for a long time. Villagers took its shade in summer and gathered its big acorns. Shepherds sheltered inside the trunk and, by one account, lit fires in it and used it as a chimney, which the hiker who recorded that called not very encouraging for its future. It is still here. From the village, the farm track runs about 500 metres west, and the correct branch at its only fork leads straight to it.
Alone in an open meadow on the ridge facing the village, about 500m along a farm track west of Villamudria, Rabanos municipality, province of Burgos, Castilla y Leon You can recognise it easily: it is the only tree on an open, treeless meadow, an oak about seven metres round with a hollow trunk you can look into. It stands about 500 metres along the farm track west of Villamudria.
Free and public (one source explicitly rates access as 'Publica' and difficulty 'Facil'): from the village, walk past the first row of houses and take the track continuing the road's direction; after about 500m the tree stands alone on an open, treeless plain, and the correct fork at the only junction leads straight to it.
Rural Burgos province; no public transport reaches Villamudria. About 33km from Burgos city (which we do not currently publish); a car is the realistic way to reach it.