Rural space holds many memories of the past that we usually associate with built heritage, such as monuments, houses, and old streets and roads. Many rural landscapes are themselves memories of the past when preserving wilderness or human presence in harmony with nature. Unfortunately, some supposed modernizations of rural areas often result in replacing old paths that continued to serve perfectly for their intended purposes, the transit of people and animals, with uncharacteristic roads of asphalt, without traces of the presence of life.

I felt the memory of the human presence in the rural world in harmony with nature when I walked this ancient path near the source of the Alviela River in Alcanena, Portugal. It was winter, and most of the trees were bare of leaves. Ivy crept up the tree trunks. An old warehouse beside the pathway survived the time, although it is no longer in use. The Alviela River ran fast and was full of water. The sun shone in the sky, and the light hit the trees, creating a mosaic of lights and shadows on the old track. This atmosphere was captured with a Hasselblad X1D in crop mode.