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Hand-built terracing still in use, with views down the Vale do Sucrasto
Once in the village of Bouças, turn left and then left again, staying on the tarmac road, and exit the village. After 250 metres is an acute right-hand turn: a cart track going uphill and nearly doubling backwards. Take this, and 200 metres along it take a left-hand footpath going uphill. Walk through the woods, along a path that is indistinct in places, to a farm where there is a fork. Go right, along a cart track, ignore a turning to the left and reach a T-junction. Turn right uphill, which is almost straight ahead.
Stay on this main dirt road until you reach a multi-way junction, then take the second right, counting anticlockwise, going uphill through the woods. Reach a crossroads with another cart track and turn right, signed Mamoa. After 70 metres there is a very indistinct footpath on the right signed to Mamoa do Cotinho, a large doughnut-shaped pile covered in trees.
Mamoa de Cotinho is a tumulus built around 4000BC, a collective funerary monument and a place of worship. The name means breast, and the dimple at the top shows that the structure was hollow and has now collapsed.
After exploration, retrace steps and continue down the rough, quite wide path, going straight over two crossroads with cart tracks. Some 15mins after the Mamoa, at the next crossroads, with a major dirt road (and excellent views of the valley ahead), turn left.
After 500 metres, turn right at a crossroads. Cross over a stream and take an easy-to-miss tiny footpath on the right-hand side, and then go right at the next crossroads. This footpath becomes a cart track. When the route straight ahead is so overgrown it can hardly be seen, turn left downhill, which is following the main track.
About 15mins later, at the bottom of this track, is a low wall and a T-junction with another cart track; go left here. Then at a T-junction with yet another cart track, go right. At the next T-junction go left downhill, which leads to a village called Sernades (also spelled Çernades). The route underfoot goes from cobbles to tarmac, with vines enforcado overhead.
At a T-junction in the village turn left along Caminho do Paço, and then immediately fork right downhill. Reach a T-junction and go right, again downhill. Arrive at a tarmac road, turn right and then take the first left onto a cart track adjacent to terracing and vines, just before the road loops back to Sernades. This leads to another T-junction with a cart track; go right, down the valley to a quiet tarmac road, and turn right downhill. At the end of this is a T-junction with another tarmac road; turn right, and 5mins later return to the start.
Capela do Senhor dos Passos, the start and finish point of Caminho dos Mortos
WALK 2
Trilho Castrejo, Castro Laboreiro
| Start/Finish | Igreja Matriz (main church), Castro Laboreiro (N42°01.820’ W08°09.506’) |
| Distance | 17km; including castle: 19km |
| Total ascent | 820m; including castle: 870m |
| Grade | Difficult |
| Time | 6½hrs; including castle: 7¼hrs |
| Terrain | Almost all on the old ways |
| Map | Adventure Maps Peneda-Gerês; Carta Militar 1:50,000 sheets 1-1, 1-2 and 2-4, 1:25,000 sheets 4 and 9 |
| Refreshments | Many hotels and restaurants/café in Castro Laboreiro |
| Toilets | Available near start |
| Access | From Melgaço (capital of the area), take the N202 to Lamas de Mouro, then take N202-3 to Castro Laboreiro |
| Parking | Available near start |
This highly enjoyable walk follows closely what the villagers in this remote area would have used to get from village to village – and often still do. Now designated PR3 and waymarked red/yellow, it provides panoramic views of imposing mountains, some shade here and there, and an optional visit to a Romanesque castle on the summit of Castro Laboreiro, from where you can admire the whole route.
There are streams over the path in places so this might be difficult in winter, and navigation is tricky at times, making GPS particularly useful. The route may seem a little ‘out of the way’, but its rewards are plentiful.
From the church go south past the town cross and pelourinho (pillory) to the tarmac road and turn left. You can visit the castle from here (see below), or save this until the end. Take the footpath to the right just before the new bridge and cross the impressive old bridge (Ponte Velha) with superb views of the falls with boulder-scoured cauldrons, and then rejoin the tarmac road.
The Ponte Velha (old bridge) over the Rio Laboreiro on the outskirts of Castro Laboreiro
Walk along the tarmac road for 750 metres. Be careful not to follow ‘PR Trilho Interpretativo’ on the left, then take a right-hand turn signposted for Fronteira de Ameixoeira, following red/white/yellow waymarking. After 500 metres, take a pleasant footpath on the right heading down. Ignore a turning to the left, then cross over an old bridge leading to the village of Varziela.
At a T-junction turn right, and then 50 metres later, in the outskirts of the village, fork right along an old way. This leads to a tarmac road; turn left uphill and then take the first right-hand turn following signs for Cainheiras (immediately ignore a right-hand turn going to Bico). After about 5mins arrive in Cainheiras and walk past Capela da Senhora de Numão, then go through the village following red/yellow waymarking.
Capela da Senhora de Numão was built to celebrate an apparition that appeared in the nearby cliffs, credited with numerous miracles such as saving the lives of shepherds and their animals, and the healing of mouth ulcers. In 1712 Frei Agostinho de Santa Maria, a religious writer compiling a list of holy sites of the area, said that it was so cold here in midwinter that the archbishop had to warm the Mass wine to prevent it from freezing solid.
About 500 metres out of the village, take a right-hand path off the tarmac and go over an old bridge then back onto the same tarmac road again. Take the second turning on the right 150 metres after the bridge, onto a footpath. Go up this path, then at a big fork go left and uphill. Stay on this path until the route is between two walls; go right at the next fork, leading to the village of Padrosouro. Don’t go into the village, instead fork right just before it, staying on a cart track.
Continue along this enjoyable green path, through an oak copse, to reach the outskirts of the village of Seara. Take a right-hand turn just before the village, then take the very narrow fork on the right going downhill about 100 metres after the village. Cross over a photogenic bridge; about 5mins later the path becomes a little difficult to follow – there is a very old low wall and the path crosses over it. If you miss it, the path will just peter out upwards.
Ascend between two peaks, and then the path splits into three. Take the left branch, marked by cairns (although there are many other cairns, so caution is required). Turn left at a T-junction with a cart track, leading to a wide dirt road. Go right, downhill, following red/white/yellow waymarking.
Just over 1km along this path, in a wooded area with a summit to the left, take an acutely angled rough cart track on the left-hand side, nearly doubling back on the route. After 300 metres, between two summits, go right at an indistinct fork, ascending to the top of a crest to be greeted by a remarkable view deep down into the