Day 69 & 70 – to Manteigas (Serra da Estrela)

The road climbs steeply from Covilhã, the southern entrance to the National Park, from 700 metres to 1650 metres at the junction from which Manteigas and the Zazere valley descend to the north east, and the highest peak of mainland Portugal lie directly ahead. Though the vista at this point is spectacular, any closer examination is a disappointment. Torre, the highest peak, has some skiing, but also a roundabout like a necklace around its summit, which has restaurants and a department store. I skipped that and headed down the valley. The road is once more superb, especially lit by late afternoon autumnal sunlight with the colours of the trees highlighted.

Manteigas lies quite spectacularly with mountains all around it. It has a number of smart hotels, which I expected would be busy, as it was a Friday. But it loses the sun at about 3:30 pm, so gets cold on these November nights, despite the 18C of the cloudless days. There were very few other visitors.

I parked where advised by the various site finder apps, below the main car park higher up the steep streets. For the first time on this course, I was awoken with a knock at 6 am, albeit a very polite one. The grassy area was the Saturday market, and a guy wanted to set his shop up, out the back of his van. I moved to the main car park, which of course, at this time of year, there is no problem with.

There was a trail race happening on Saturday morning, starting from the car park, which is pretty much the centre of town. It attracted about 200 runners, who had options of 10 or 20 kilometres. There were a few hikers also, but really only a few; remarkably few in these excellent weather conditions.

The dog and I had a splendid morning out on the Rota do Carvão, the Coal Route. In years gone by, at the higher altitudes, coal was produced by burning the heather, for use in the houses of Manteigas. The heather had very high density, making it suitable for such purposes. Lower down, forestry and natural pastures for cattle dominate, with many of the old farmhouses carefully renovated so the view is one that has not changed for centuries.