20 June 2024 Tunnel of the Levada da Rocha Vermelha, the green lagoon and Furado Velho

Course

We started at the lower Rabaçal walking car park on the ER211. At the levada house we left the crowd heading for the exit of the long Rocha Vermelha tunnel.

The rest of the downstream section was closed, because the terminal basins of the Levada da Rocha Vermelha and the Levada Vinte e Cinco Fontes were just being rebuilt, to improve the output of the old Calheta I power station, whose building was also being overhauled.

We, though, went into the darkness of the long tunnel. The course immediately after the tunnel is now well protected; in return, before the next small tunnel a landslide has torn the protections away. Getting past that spot took some concentration.

At the bridge over the Ribeira Grande we dropped into the stream bed and scrambled up the bed to the crossing of the Levada da Rocha Vermelha with the Ribeira Grande. From here you can follow the Ribeira Grande to the Lagoa Verde. A truly idyllic place; there was still a geocache to look for....

From here we climbed the steep linking path to the Levada Vinte e Cinco Fontes and followed it to the linking path to the Rabaçal house. On that, further up, and then from the junction with the Levada Velha or do Furado Velho we followed the newly built footpath to the Furado Velho. From here up to the ER105 and straight on, with no path, up to Pico Gordo, with a fantastic view over Calheta!

Then down again towards the ER105, past the abandoned cow sheds, on the gorse path to the track that follows the old western course of the Levada Vinte e Cinco Fontes. On that, back to the starting point.

Distance: 18.1 km, 470 m of ascent, 470 m of descent

Start: 10.20 ER211 car park

End

15.45 ER211 car park

Condition

Sure footing and a head for heights are advisable for the whole walk (the low levada walls).

Remarks

After 12 years, through the long tunnel again.