Caminho do Xisto de Fajão

Yesterday we visited a tiny village in the mountain range, Serra do Açor, called Fajao. There is a 4km walk from the village that we found details from at the Aldeias do Xisto website.



On the drive up into the mountains the views were, as usual, fabulous. We were above the cloud in the valleys below.

The walk on the website is described as facil (easy) but compared to the Benfeita walk that we did (that was medio - dificil) the Fajao walk was more strenuous. So, in our opinion, this should be at least medium to difficult as well.

The length of the walk is only 4km but the terrain is quite challenging in some parts, and taking it at a leisurely pace with time for picture taking and a butty stop, allow yourself 3 hours.

The weather was overcast but dry, and there was barely any wind, though as the afternoon wore on we could see the clouds beginning to brush the tops of the mountains near by. The walk would not have been as enjoyable in the mist, but the trail was fairly well waymarked so there was not much danger of getting lost. There is also a path that splits the 4km walk into two to allow a faster descent if required. The whole time we were on the mountain walk we never saw anyone else.

We recommend doing the whole 4km walk. The views are fantastic and the rock formations awesome. Jon felt that the rock was a bit too loose to do any actual rock climbing or scrambling (that we might have considered doing on another day, with all the proper equipment).

The Mountain Village of Balocas

Yesterday we had a lovely day out. We did two geocaches, that took us up into the mountain village of Balocas in the Serra do Acor. Up in the mountains it felt a bit like a summer's day in the Lake District, ie damp, misty, but with astoundingly beautiful scenery. We had left glorious sunshine back down in the valley.

The mist was slowly beginning to clear as the day went on and the views improved. We snacked at the picnic site at Balocas that had wonderful views of the valley below.


The first cache was to a waterfall that was quite a way off the beaten path. The second cache took us up to a building that the forestry commission use as a look out point for forest fires etc.

As usual we had the place entirely to ourselves.

When we arrived home we found, to our dismay, the goats and sheep had been in the garden again and this time they left us with very little. The herd ate all the lettuce, cabbages, broccoli, most of the pepper plants and even the tomatoes. We are quite annoyed about it. However, because we don't own the place we will not be spending money on goat-proofing the garden, so for this trip out here there will be no more vegetable growing. When we come to buy a place we will make sure there are no goats for neighbours or there will probably be, almost definitely, murder committed.

They left the beetroot though! Maybe so they can come back for it another day!

Just found a site and here are some ideas on how to cook goat: succulent chanfana (goat stew in wine sauce) or the equally appreciated maranhos (pluck of goat with rice), roast kid...

Walk "Pardieros" Serra do Acor

Yesterday the weather forecast for Arganil was 0% precipitation, overcast, max 15 degrees, and that meant to us that it would probably be a great day for walking. Up until now it's been too hot for us!

However, the valley we were walking through was in the Serra do Acor and had its own microclimate, so it did rain, for a short while (as Peter Kay would say, it was that fine rain that really wets you).

But what a lovely walk it was. The paths were probably formed by the agricultural workers who used to live up in the valley in the schist cottages that are now mostly ruins. And more recently, Arganil council has done remedial work, building slate stairways etc, to enhance the route.

The walk was medium/difficult rating and this was because of a steep stretch about half way along. Without proper maps we did manage to stray off the route because of some confusion with the signage, and after about 15 minutes we turned back. Our detour though took us along another track that is part of the Aldeias do xisto trails, and from the little we saw it merits further investigation and seems well signposted.

Overall the walk was approximately 4.5 km and taking off 30 mins for going the wrong way, took us a leisurely 2 hours (incl photos and nosing about).



There are another 3 walks in the vicinity, with Mata da Margaraça being the place to get a leaflet for information (walks of different levels of difficulty and length). We hope, in time, to link the different walks together so we have a longer day out. We tracked the walk using our gps and hopefully will be able to upload the route for future reference.