Former PRC26 SMI Chá Porto Formoso 08-08-2018
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 3.42 mi
- Elevation gain
- 945 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 945 ft
- Max elevation
- 910 ft
- TrailRank
- 38
- Min elevation
- 70 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Time
- 3 hours 27 minutes
- Coordinates
- 621
- Uploaded
- August 24, 2021
- Recorded
- August 2018
near Porto Formoso, Açores (Portugal)
Viewed 413 times, downloaded 9 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
At time of walking (Aug 2018) leaflet and GPS coordinates were still available at
https://trails.visitazores.com/pt-pt/trilhos-dos-acores/sao-miguel
however, red-yellow waymarks were not everywhere visible, the trail seemed not maintained, with some sections overgrown and one completely unpassable (requiring an alternative path). PRC26 SMI has meanwhile (2021) disappeared from the list of officially promoted trails.
For the version we followed, a classification as "moderate" seems no longer adequate and should be "difficult", since at one point it was no longer obvious how to continue. So, try this if you are a little bit adventurous, reports on current feasibility are welcome.
If you are less adventurous, the more difficult section towards the end can be entirely avoided by following the roads.
Our trail time includes a 1 h break at the Fábrica do Chá.
Waypoints
Waypoint
0 ft
Former PRC26 Trailhead
The walk starts above the harbour of Porto Formoso, where the trailhead of PRC26 used to be. Start walking eastward on the road.
Risk
0 ft
Overgrown section through fields
After 500 m on the road, turn to the right on a trail that leads through the fields. In this section, the trail was exceedingly overgrown by grass. At km 1.0 turn right on a track and at km 1.3 cross the regional road and enter on a track that leads uphill through forest towards the tea plantations.
Flora
0 ft
Entering the tea plantation
At km 1.9 you enter the tea plantations and continue through them for a few hundred meters.
Panorama
0 ft
Highest point of walk, panoramic view
At km 2.2 you have reached the highest point of the walk, with fine views over the coast. Here you join a dirt and pebble road that you follow downhill.
Provisioning
459 ft
Fábrica de Chá Porto Formoso
At km 3.3 you reach again the regional road opposite to Fábrica de Chá de Porto Formoso, which you can visit. This is a good opportunity to try the local tea and have explained to you how it is made, and this tea factory is much less busy than the Chá Gorreana one. There are more tea plantations to be seen in the area below the factory and fine views towards the coast.
Risk
0 ft
Right turn of former PRC26 no longer feasible
You continue westward on the regional road. At this waypoint, the PRC26 trail used to divert from the road downhill to the right. However, this section was totally overgrown and unpassable. We followed the road for a further 300 m and then turned right downhill on a field track, that disappeared after some time. If you want to avoid this and the section that follows, stay on the regional road a few hundred meters longer and then turn right downhill on a road that leads back to Porto Formoso.
Risk
328 ft
Find your way through a meadow
Here the we had to find our way through a meadow, at the end of which it was not completely clear how to continue before a trail was found again.
Risk
0 ft
Old trail ('tunnel' of vegetation)
This interesting section is on an old trail that leads like a tunnel through dense vegetation, with some branches hanging from above. It was still in use by people going to their fields and gardens, though.
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