Quintandona PR11 PRF PRD

For various reasons, not least of which was over three months of almost daily heavy rainfall, it has been several months since we last went for a hike. It was all the more enjoyable, therefore, to finally get back out on the trails.

For our return to the trails, we chose a looped route that starts and ends in the village of Quintandona, in the municipality of Penafiel. It’s a beautiful small village, located about 40 minutes west of Porto/Gaia. Most of the buildings are constructed of schist, with its wide variety of shades and colours. There is a chapel in the village that is at least 200 years old.

The route that we followed is an official trail, designated as PR11-PRF-PRD. It starts in the car-park next to the interpretive centre where there is a sign board. The official distance is 10.4km with an estimated completion time of 3 hours 20 minutes. Whilst the route is well marked, we were also following the Wikiloc app and the track provided by João Marques Fernandes, whose routes are always well described and enjoyable. It should be noted that we did the route in the opposite direction, as suggested by João.

The initial section of the route started out with a gradual ascent, as it took us through the villages of Escariz and Devesas. Part of the trail followed a section of a disused levada (water channel) and under the Arco de Rosendo (a stone arch). We followed the paved road through the village of Lagares, passing its old church. Heading out of Lagares, we passed a roadside watermill – Moinho do Silva.

About 3km into the hike, we reached the top of the first climb of the route. Just a short distance beyond, we were greeted by the lovely Cascata de Castelões. This waterfall is a feature of the Ribeira de Lagares (Lagares river) and, at this time of year, it had a good volume of water flowing over it.

The next section of the route followed the Lagares river as it flowed downstream, with the river providing a pleasant soundtrack to our hike. At one section, the river passed through a small dam and then it was partially deviated through a disused watermill (Moinho dos Senas).

A little further along, the trail drops down to the river level, where it crosses to the opposite bank. Unfortunately, due to the strong flow of water at the time of our visit, crossing would not be an easy task. After surveying the area, I was able to find a spot where I could cross over, but that then required some nimble footwork to traverse a sloped bank to rejoin the trail on the opposite side of the river. Whilst I had made it across, we considered it to be too risky for the ladies, so we had to come up with an alternate plan. But first, we decided to eat our picnic lunch at this beautiful spot, with the river gushing past whilst we ate. After lunch, we climbed back up the bank and followed a trail, thinking that we may have a lengthy detour in order to find another way to cross the river. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our detour rejoined the trail a few hundred metres further along – on our side of the river! So it wasn’t necessary to attempt a risky river crossing after all.

Continuing gradually downhill, we passed through the village of Monte Santo where we stopped briefly to look at a covered granite water cistern, with granite columns holding up the roof.

After leaving Monte Santo, the trail crosses over a paved road, at which point standing water made the surface quite muddy. Beyond that, we walked alongside a working levada for a while, and then onto an old stone road made from large boulders, alongside a vineyard. Further along, we crossed a road bridge that took us over the Lagares river and the trail again followed the path of the river for a short distance. Along the way, we passed a couple of granaries that were fully loaded with corn – not a common sight.

At the 7km mark, the long gradual descent had ended, and we began the climb to the highest elevation of the hike. It didn’t take long before the scenery of the hike changed completely. As we trudged up a steep, rough and rocky road, we rose above the trees of the river valley onto an exposed hillside, with mountain views around us. The ascent covered 1.7km, passing through the rather barren Parque de Merendas do Alto da Pegadinha and reaching the highest point (300m elevation) at the Miradouro e Baloiço do Alto da Pegadinha (viewpoint and swing).

Just below the viewpoint is the site of a Pegadinha legend. Legend has it that Nossa Senhora and São José (Mary and Joseph) were pursued by King Herod’s soldiers and came to Lagares. They brought a donkey that carried their belongings and helped them on the way. At a certain point, they had to hide in this place, where there were big bushes, which allowed them to rest and not be seen by the king’s soldiers. At the site, the three marks that are engraved on this rock remained, which are the footprint of Our Lady, the mark of St. Joseph’s cane, and the mark of the donkey’s foot. The rocky section is roped off, with a sign explaining the legend. There is no attempt to explain why Mary and Joseph, along with their donkey, would have walked from Bethlehem/Jerusalem, all the way to this particular hill in Portugal.

After a brief rest at the viewpoint, we began the descent back to Quintandona. The substrate in this section was schist, with large outcroppings along the trail. Alongside the trail are large vineyards that are part of the Quinta da Aveleda. The Aveleda Winery has existed for 150 years here in the vinho verde (green wine) region. It exports its wines to 70 different countries. After enjoying the views of the vineyards and surrounding countryside, the trail descended rather steeply with some loose rocky surfaces that required extra attention. After descending for about 3km, we found ourselves back in Quintandona.

Due to our detour and a couple of other slight deviations, the total distance of our hike was 11.94km. The total elevation gain was 325 metres. Whilst our moving time totalled 3 hours 19 minutes (only a minute difference from the advertised completion time for the route), it actually took us 4 hours 59 minutes to complete, taking into account our frequent stops for photos and our picnic lunch at the side of the river. João had rated the trail as ‘easy’ and based on the distance and elevation change, I think that’s reasonable. However, parts of the trail had loose surfaces and some steep sections that Bev and Susan found needed some extra care to negotiate, along with the use of hiking poles. Also, with fast flowing water, the river crossing can be challenging. For these reasons, I am rating the route as ‘moderate’. We found it to be a very enjoyable hike that encompassed quite a variety of scenery and we recommend it highly.

For more photos and some video clips, visit my full report at https://bermudarover.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/quintandona-hike/