O Cerro da Cabeça

It had promised to be a warm sunny day, I started by hanging out a load of laundry, then we headed off to Moncarapacho to enjoy a circular hike at the Cerro da Cabeça.

Cerro da Cabeça (249 m) is the easternmost elevation of the Serra de Monte Figo, which is part of the three hills/mountains we live in. It is located in the parish of Moncarapacho and is a hike we have done a few times in the past. This limestone elevation is considered by geologists a natural monument, due to the value of its karst formations. (Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves).

In any case, it did turn out to be warm but not overly sunny, just a peek from time to time of the big yellow orb. That didn’t stop us from enjoying immensely this lovely trail, which took us approximately two hours. The trail is peppered with many loose stones of varying sizes, which means you can’t really let your guard down for long otherwise you could easily take a bad spill.

James with Jackson, Gary, Patricia, and Joanne, all bundled up and fresh for the trail. The jackets came off within minutes as the trail headed upwards, winding and twisting and cumulating in a series of over 100 steps build into the hillside….yes, Joanne counted them!

That small white structure is where we started out from and just over the top of that boulder is the series of 100 steps going down! A fair bit of huffing and puffing from a few folks. That’s the sea off in the distance, about 12 km from where we are.

Happily most of the trails are well marked, although the destination is not necessarily totally clear. For example, the bottom one here shows the Cerro however underneath is the word “mirodouro”, which is lookout……there is still probably another 2 km beyond that to get to the bottom of the hike but it doesn’t tell you that, or mention the 100 steps you need to climb down. Always a surprise, which quite frankly, for me, is a large part of the appeal.

We are roughly half way done at this point and the photo gives you a fairly good look at the quality of the trail. It would be lethal on a wet day. A little further along we came to an area where there was a small cluster of homes, probably summer homes as there wasn’t much sign of people around most of them. James was taken with this tile, near a lovely gate, of a dog that resembled Jackson .

A good time had by all, roughly 7,5 km, a good workout for all of us given the terrain and a satisfying outing overall. The sun never did really make itself available and so on arriving home I found the laundry was almost as wet as it was when I put it out three hours ago! I have a feeling the interior of the house is going to be decorated with damp clothing this afternoon!

I took an old dirt farm road to head home and two things jumped out at me. One was a primary school, literally in the middle of absolutely nowhere and the other, a small statue paying homage to Our Lady of Fatima, also in the middle of nowhere. I love finding these things.

Home now, Marc painting and collaging, Joanne reading, and me “talking to you”. Somehow an entire week as passed since our arrival, actually tomorrow is day 10. How quickly time passes by.

Até amanhã.