Stª Cruz das Flores - Fazenda and back 14-07-2019

Circular trail, first exploring the coastline of Stª Cruz das Flores, proceeding to Fazenda and further to Ribeira de Além. More than half of it follows Grande Rota das Flores (GR Flores), waymarked red-white. Our walking time included a 1h picnic lunch.
Some info on the village of Fazenda can be obtained from
https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fazenda_de_Santa_Cruz
The walk starts near the tourist information close to the church of Stª Cruz. Proceed from there to the sea, which you reach close to the new harbour. From there walk north along the coast until, after passing the old harbour, you have to divert to the left (no route along the coast). Pass by Bairro dos Franceses and proceed along the road leading towards the airport terminal, then turn right again towards the coast, which you reach above the main rockpools of Stª Cruz. From here continue on the coast, passing the rockpools of Salemas before reaching "Museu da Fábrica da Baleia do Boqueirão", a former whaling factory now converted to a museum. Continue along the coast towards the West, first pasing the INATEL hotel and then the end of the runway of Flores airport. Here you climb up some stairs until reaching the road to Fazenda (km 3.4) in the suburb of Monte.
Proceed along the road until reaching Fazenda with its characteristic church (km 4.7).
Continue further along the road until at km 5.3 you divert to the left on a tarred road and go uphill until reaching a water conduct at km 5.4. From here on the trail should be waymarked red-white as GR Flores. You follow this conduct until at km 6.8 you reach the reservoir which feeds it (Barragem Central Hidroeléctrica da Ribeira de Além da Fazenda de Santa Cruz ). Walk over the dam until at km 7.3 reaching the Forest Reserve, which is a comfortable spot for a picnic. Follow GR Flores south-west up a valley. At km 9.4 we should have diverted from the dirt road to the left and crossed over to the other side of the valley, but we missed it and adventured on some cow paths instead, eventually rejoining GR Flores at Km 11.1.
At km 12.2 reach a spot with great panorama over Stª Cruz, followed by a steep descent to the suburb of Monte.