29 June 2022 The new reservoir and further exploration of the Levada da Senhora

Course

The original plan had been to look at the dam on the Pico da Urze, which I had never seen up close. On my last visit here (2013) it all still looked untouched and intact.

I have to say now, though, that the new structures fit into the surroundings relatively harmoniously.

I started beside the reservoir and went round the south-eastern side of the lake until I met the newly built Levada Velha do Lajeado. Along it, past the small but beautiful waterfall in the Ribeira do Lajeado, as far as the Madre.

On along a gravel track to the bridge over the Ribeira Grande, and then on a narrow path to the Pico Fernandes ou Rabaçal.

From here there is a beautiful view of the reservoir.

On along the newly improved Vereda do Pau Seco, which I had also never walked. At the crossing with the ruined Levada da Senhora I could not resist searching for the old levada traces, and at first I went on towards the Madre in the Ribeira da Agua Negra ou do Risco. The path has been cleared a little, but you still have to watch carefully where you put your feet.

The Madre is very fine; you can scramble about a bit and, from the Madre, follow the river a little upstream and downstream. It is dangerous in places, but if you are used to this, not really difficult.

Back to the Vereda do Pau Seco. I had not expected the continuation towards the Ribeira Grande to have been cleared as well, so on the spur of the moment I explored that section too. From my walk in 2013 I knew where and how the Levada da Senhora meets the Levada Grande, and where the levada later crosses the PR from the Lagoa do Vento to the Levada do Alecrim.

It was rather peculiar, following the traces through the tall bracken; at some point it became very steep, but well cleared, and suddenly I was standing at the Ribeira Grande, opposite the tunnel I had visited in 2013.

I enjoyed the views from the stream bed towards the tunnel and took a close look at the inflows from the Ribera Grande.

An uneasy feeling did creep over me here, though: the descent from the bank I had come down was very steep, and a way back was not possible, because on the last steep stretch you had to slide down. So I had to get out of the stream bed on the other side, which did not look easy. But someone had cut a foothold into the rock face under the tunnel exit; with hands and feet I could pull myself up.

A little further downstream one could presumably also have found a way back up onto the levada.

After I had enjoyed the small tunnel on firm ground, it was back to the PR on the path I already knew.

This section is very fine, but also quite overgrown in places.

Then up the PR to the Levada do Alecrim and on to the end of the Levada Velha do Lajeado. I could no longer find the way back through the broom, so I made a short detour and ended up at the starting point again.

Distance: 12.2 Km, 250 Hm ascent, 250 Hm descent

Start: 09.20 Pico da Urze

End

13.55 Pico da Urze

Condition

The circuit to the Pico Fernandes ou Rabacal is long familiar; in the bracken you can lose your way in places, and the variant I walked could soon be overgrown again.

The path along the former Levada da Senhora is absorbing, but it takes a bit of a sense of direction. It is very lonely here!

The exit I chose from the Ribeira Grande into the tunnel is not entirely easy; there might be alternatives further downstream

Remarks

For people who are used to this sort of thing, a dream of a round!