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Photo: João Lourenço, Responsible Trails
A challenging route that connects the village of Unhais da Serra to the highest point of mainland Portugal, following the trails and drovers' paths.
The Drovers' Paths of Unhais da Serra are an ancestral heritage deeply associated with transhumance activity, connecting the village to the mountain pastures. This route challenges you to travel drovers’ paths and trails along the Alforfa stream valley, one of the first to see its waters harnessed for electricity production, ascending to the glacial cirque to finally reach the Torre plateau.
Maintenance responsibility: Covilhã City Council
Adhesion to the Responsible Trails system promoted by the city council itself.
Author’s recommendation
The Responsible Trails ® ensures the conduction of an annual technical audit where the main points of the code of ethics are assessed. Here you can find the result of the last audit. Before starting your adventure, don't forget to check the "Warnings" tab.
Responsible Trails Assessment:
(last audit performed on 11/27/2023)
Signage: 3 - Missing signage at at least one intersection that compromises orientation without map or GPS
Path maintenance: 3 - Degradation that hinders progression
Surroundings maintenance: 3 - Occasional degradation but without negative impact on the experience
Informational structures: 2 - Degraded and/or irrelevant
Interpretative structures: NA - Route without interpretative structures
Support and safety structures: 1 - Very degraded or non-existent. They put the user at risk
Community interaction: 3 - Occasional interaction/contacts with the community
Landscape integration: 5 - Perfectly integrated into the landscape, exploring relevant points of interest
Overall safety: 1 - Presents more than one high-risk situation
Derived from the technical difficulty and the stamina requirements.
Track types
Safety information
Remember these are mountain routes with sections without a defined trail; special caution is recommended in case of fog. Be careful with livestock and guard dogs. Remember they are working and will always protect their flock. If necessary, go around the flock and alert the shepherd.
- Follow only the marked trail
- Avoid making unnecessary noise
- Observe the wildlife without disturbing it
- Do not damage the flora
- Do not leave garbage or other traces of your passage
- Do not make fire
- Do not collect plant or rock samples
- Be kind to people you meet in the area
WARNING: increased risks in winter due to the presence of snow and ice.
Roadbook
"Soon after crossing the Alforfa stream and leaving the PR 15 CVL - Thermal Route, we will start the climb quickly finding the first of several drovers' paths (ancestral transhumance paths usually walled near "worked" lands) that we will travel up to the Torre plateau.
Along the left bank leaving the village behind us and passing above the lower power plant we head for the Pedra da Figueira Power Plant, part of this impressive system that takes advantage of the great slopes this valley presents. From here we will continue along drovers' paths, water channels, and trails associated with the ancestral but still living transhumance, among meadows and pastures. After crossing the stream again, this time at a place without a bridge but usually easy to ford, we continue our climb until the upper power plant, already in the shadow of the Padre Alfredo dam. The ascent continues, now winding along the slope to pass close to the wall and start the final climb to the Torre plateaus and their meadows.
Having finished the hardest part of the ascent, we now reach an impressive ridge that skirts the top of the glacial cirque of Covão do Ferro, as we approach the Torre and the end of this challenge."
Nave de Santo António
Loja Aldeias do Xisto do H2otel
Portugal Divide Checkpoint 3 - Torre
Public transport
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Coordinates
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Localization
Derived from the technical difficulty and the stamina requirements.
User Questions