Levada da Serra (da Ponta do Sol)

Madrei

• Madre 1: Ribeira do Juncal south of Bica da Cana N 32°45.280 W 17°03.710 ca. 1525 m a.s.l. in the gorse thicket

• Madre 2: Intake in the Ribeira do Juncal north of the Madre of the Levada do Paul 2 N 32°44.600 W 17°04.050 ca. 1440 m a.s.l.

Course

The Madre lies in the thicket below Bica da Cana and can only be reached along the levada itself. After that, inflows from 4 side branches from the east, on partly through dense undergrowth, in places open, then across a patch of woodland, and then the way on is blocked by a fence that has to be climbed. After that, across open pasture (caution: cows!) to the inflow from the second Madre, then at first easy along the edge of the Cascalho, and another fence, which can however be crossed with a stile.

A little later a small trodden path branches off to the left, by which one climbs directly and steeply straight up to Stonehenge. The levada itself is increasingly overgrown and in places exposed, until no way on is possible (the levada path has slipped away and the levada is extremely exposed, crumbling concrete). The levada continues through dense gorse, hugging the edge of the Cascalho. After that an approach from above is possible again; here one sees 2 concrete cascades and a short concreted stretch that disappears into the undergrowth, very steeply downhill. Against the flow one can get from here to the break-off point; with the flow, the levada, like the levadinha flowing in from above, loses itself in the gorse and is no longer accessible. The stream-like levada later crosses the descent path from Pedras to the Cascalho. After that the levada briefly becomes a waterfall, which further down is caught by a concrete barrier and diverted back into the levada.

Course above the Cascalho and the waterfall passage in the area of the south-eastern approach to the Cascalho:

Then a vertical levada parallel to a gravel track as far as Sitio da Quinta. From here along a gravel track, piped in part at the end, into the Reservatorio do Jangao.

It splits into an eastern end branch beside the road and a western end branch past the Moinho de Jangao, beside the road to Lombada. Here it crosses the Levada Nova da Ponta do Sol

End

Main branch: Reservatorio do Jangao ca. 680 m a.s.l. Below the reservoir one finds several end branches of the Levada da Serra, which carry water irregularly. One of them runs into an old water mill in Sítio do Tornadouro!

Function and use

Vertical levada supplying the area around Jangao and Ponta do Sol

Access

• From the car park on the ER-110 between Bica da Cana and Pedras, pathless

• From the Madre of the Levada do Paul 2, pathless or by trodden paths, to the levada below Madre 2

• Pathless, or by a trodden path, from "Stonehenge" to the second fence

• From Stonehenge to the cascades (pathless)

• From the descent path from Pedras as far as the crossing with the levada

• On along the descent path to the concrete sill below the waterfall

• From the gravel track from Pedras to Sitio da Quinta (2 crossings); from here also on to the Madre or the Levada da Tabua, or the path from the ER-110

• Ascent from the Reservatorio do Jangao (turn off the ER-222 towards Lombada da Ponta do Sol (sign to the Levada Nova and the Moinho); keep to the road all the way to the end

Condition

The Madre is inaccessible in the fern thicket, and reaching it other than along the levada is not possible; after that easy. The section between Madre 2 and the concrete sill on the descent path from Pedras is awkward and only partly walkable, then easy on a gravel track parallel to the levada

Remarks

In the upper part, a fine view into the Cascalho and onto the Levada do Paul 2