4 August 2021 Exploring a levada in Ribeiro Frio

Course

We started where the track leads from the ER103 to the locked gate. There is a pull-off for parking. Before you reach the locked gate at the bridge over the Ribeiro Frio, a path goes off to the left; 2 plastic pipes pour water into an open shaft. This is the Levada do Posto Aquicola do Ribeiro Frio. Down the valley it goes around a small hill, then meets the ER103 again and then runs piped beside the road as far as the pipe waterfall in Ribeiro Frio.

On this walk, though, you follow the fine upper course of the levada as far as the imposing Madre.

At first you follow, on the path, the piped levada, which keeps filling open shafts for pressure relief.

At some point the path goes up to the left, but you have to follow the levada pipe, and then you are beside the stream bed of the Ribeiro Frio. At first it is still piped; you have to drop into the stream bed, and after an impassable passage you find a way up to the levada, which is now flowing in the open.

You then follow the Ribeiro Frio for a good stretch, in places a little exposed and narrow, but not really dangerous. You come to a levada bridge that can be a bit slippery; here water is also taken in a side stream and led into the main branch by a side levada.

At some point you come to a spot that reminds you of a bifurcation, but it quickly becomes clear where you have to go on. To the right it goes to the Ribeiro Frio; here water is taken and led into the levada.

The main branch goes up to the left, relatively steep and stepped, but also slippery.

After that you continue in the tree-heath tunnel as far as the Madre. Again and again branches go off left and right, taking water in the Ribeiro Frio, at a spring, or in 2 shafts. It is worth exploring all these branches; all but one are easy to walk. One inflow is overgrown, and I did not get far there either.

The Madre is a tunnel ca. 30 m long, with a side passage, easy to walk and high.

Just before the tunnel a path goes up to the right, but it is quite overgrown and probably comes out on the Levada do Blandy. As we knew the Blandy is quite overgrown, we took the path below the Madre, on the right in the direction of flow. Here too there is gorse and brambles, but in a tolerable amount. You come out at the picnic area beside the Areeiro road (ER202) and the Levada do Blandy.

Along the ER202 towards the Poiso pass there is a narrow trodden path that makes walking the road unnecessary. Then left into the wood and on a path that is unfortunately also used by mountain bikers, but is still pleasant to walk, back to the point where at the start we had switched onto the Levada do Posto Aquicola do Ribeiro Frio.

I went up a stretch once more, because I had liked this section so much.

Then back to the start and to the spot where the Levada do Posto Aquicola do Ribeiro Frio meets the ER103 and then continues piped.

At the end we looked at the end of the Levada do Posto Aquicola do Ribeiro Frio in Ribeiro Frio, from the waterfall to the end in the trout ponds.

Distance: 6.8 km, 325 m of ascent, 325 m of descent

Start: 10.45 ER103

End

13.50 ER103

Condition

The Levada do Posto Aquicola do Ribeiro Frio is not particularly demanding for practised levada walkers; you should still be sure-footed and have a bit of a head for heights.

Remarks

The Madre and all the branches along the way, and the wild landscape in the valley of the Ribeiro Frio, make this walk an experience!