6 June 2024 Rabaçal loops as a beautiful start

Course

Another warm-up round had actually been planned, but as the high plain looked so inviting we changed the plan on the spot.

From the car park on the ER209 we set off towards the old Fanal road and picked our way through the flowering broom until we hit the track to the old stone bridge. Keeping left on that, we reached the Ribeira Grande and the Madre of the Levada do Lajeado.

A short stretch in the direction of flow to one of my favourite places, the somewhat hidden waterfall in the Ribeira do Lajeado.

Then a short stretch back, a descent into the Ribeira Grande, the crossing, and the ascent as far as the PR 6.5 to the Pico Fernandes.

We crossed the path and quite soon reached the first highlight: the crossing of the Ribeira da Agua Negra, which is only a trickle here at the moment, but alongside the large old tree heather it also makes a colourful picture.

On beside the Ribeira, a little down the valley, still in the tree heather, to the Madre of the Levada da Senhora, which I discovered in 2022.

Then through fern fields and, again and again, tree heather, keeping roughly to the same height towards the north-west, until we met the PR13. We followed it for a stretch and then went west on a beautiful sunken path running a little lower, which later also leads down towards Beijas das Aguas. At first we missed the rather inconspicuous shortcut to the Palha Carga; in the end we came out on the PR13.1 and on that up to the Fanal road, where it began to rain.

On the PR13 it then went as far as the end at the Pico dos Assobiadouros, and on the road back to the starting point.

Distance: 10 Km, 280 Hm ascent, 280 Hm descent

Start: 09.40 ER209

End

14.20 ER209

Condition

The paths are all in very good condition; in summer the fern field is likely to be quite overgrown.

Remarks

A fine alternative to the usual PRs in the area, full of views and still natural!