It feels more like a hill to us

Walk no 9 on the Ciceron’s guide – Slopes of Foia

We are about to attempt our sixth walk in the Algarve. Today we are in the village of Monchique and about to climb the highest peak in the Algarve, Foia (902m).

The walk that Julie describes in the guide doesn’t go all the way up to the top of this hill or a ‘mountain’ as she calls it. She doesn’t recommend the climb. Apparently, its summit has become spoilt by numerous telecommunications towers. Apparently a little cafe at the top gets really crowded in summer. Well, we will be the judge of weather it is worthwhile. It we find an easy track to go up to the peak, we will take it.

It is all about getting to the summit for us, we are peak baggers, it is not about the quality, just about the top! GDR

So it is 12.10 pm. We start in the main square of Monchiques, the path meanders up out of the village and climbs up really quickly.

At the moment, we are again on a 4×4 track but we are hoping the path changes as it approach the peak.

We have a quite varied terrain, from open valleys to oak tree woods.

and pine tree woods immediately after.

We continue upwards to the track, ignoring pretty much left and right turns. After half an hour we come across a little restaurant, closed for the season.

A bit further up, our track meets a surfaced road. We cross and take another track heading uphill almost completely opposite.

As we are gaining high, the landscape opens up to our left, revealing the south coast. We are particularly lucky today because of the way the sun is just highlighting the sea. Believe it or not, we must be about fifteen kilometres away from the sea, but we can see it so clearly from here.

After fifty minutes we reach a very dilapidated ruins covered in shrubbery, very difficult to see.

Note that, here, the guide is incorrect. She says that, at this point, the road turns left, but it doesn’t, it turns right.

And it turns left again. We briefly stop to enjoy a wide scenic view towards the east. The road continues to go up.

The road bends right 180 degrees. A house on our left, with lots of rubbish piled up outside. An unpaved track goes off to the left, North west, towards Foia, the highest peak in the Algarve (902m). Ignoring the guide’s advice, we take the track that leads up to the peak. The unpaved track soon becomes a footpath, narrower and stony.

This is always a bit of a gamble. We are completely off-piste. We suspect the summit is somewhere up there and have no idea whether there is any sort of track or path that might lead to it. This sort of trekking is the most fun, but obviously the most risky. In the mountain environment it can quickly get you into trouble. Here it would just be time consuming. GDR

The path meets a track which goes off the right. We continue upwards . We can now see the telecommunication towers pushing above the horizon, in all their glory.

It is 13.30 and we just come up over the top of Foia.

The towers are scattered all over the top of this hill. This is quite a surreal place. The wind is blowing fiercely through their structures and the cables sing, creating a dreary and disturbing noise.

There are two of three clusters of these communications towers. As soon as we leave the first cluster, we come on to a paved road and on the right hand site, there is a little building with people selling their normal artisan crap. This place must be so packed in summer…We are glad we have come at this time of the year.

There are about six women selling this stuff; cork toys, placemats and trinkets, I am sure you can imagine what we are talking about. We are the only ones there. It looks like we will be the only ones there all day.Why do they bother? At least five of them could go home! GDR

There is also a snack bar. Gary is trying to persuade me to have a beer. I am not that keen. With such a strong and chilly wind, I would rather have a hot chocolate! Anyway, I don’t think it will happen. The bar looks pretty manky and it is also empty.

We continue to walk through the other two cluster of towers to eventually reach a few steps which lead to the highest point.

We think it is the highest point, although it is not that clear. GDR

Here, I take the mandatory photos. I come down pretty damned quickly before the wind blows me away.

We need to look for somewhere sheltered to have our sandwiches. Behind the snack bar seems to have a good place. Not very settled though. The waiters, quite annoyingly, are looking at us.

I am not surprised, we were the only hope of custom for the day, as we get out our lunch that hope disappears. GDR

It is 14.25, we have just finished our lunch. We don’t think it will take more than an hour to get back to Monchique.

We retrace our steps to get down this hill. We get back to the surface road where there is this house with lots of rubbish outside, this time on our right. We turn left, the road continues to go slightly uphill before bending right again.

A few metres up and an  unpaved track drops down into the woods.

The track bends to the right, passing and old barn and then left, leaving another old farm behind on our right. Here, we continue straight ascending to a much wider track, we turn right dropping to a woods of eucalyptus. This wide track is part of the GR23 route that goes all the way across the Algarve.

Quite frankly, finding this track has been an absolutely nightmare. There are too many unpaved tracks along these hills, continuously crossing and joining, they all look the same. The author is not very clear at times when describing the right one to take. She also omits other important pieces of information that you need to provide when you describe mountaineering routes such as directions. She leaves this up to you to work out which one to take. Embarking to do oneof her route has been felt like being in a labyrinth.

Anyway, our track which heads back to the village is now obvious. It meanders down through the woods.

The track sharply bends to the right. At this point, a stony and narrower path goes off to the left. We take this path which takes us down to the village before passing an abandoned convent.

Through the village, we look for the main square which is close to where Dora is parked.

On our way down, we bump into a local who is wandering around the village. We decide to follow him, for a laugh, he looks completely oblivious of our presence.

We have done this sometimes when we travel, following locals to see where they take us.

He ends up in a supermarket just outside the village which is completely at the other side from where Dora is parked! Now we have to walk all the way to the other side. It is only us to blame!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SM