Walking in the São Macario Mountain

One of the places that is on my imagination for several years was the Village of Pena, in the county of São Pedro do Sul, in the center or Portugal.

Starting the geocaching adventures 8 years ago, this was one of the places that already had points
 of interest, and then, with the new visits, with the new reports from the people going there.
Arriving to this village is not easy, once it is located on the side of a mountain, and the road doesn't allow you to go faster, once you can get there faster, but probably not in one peace.

The views are great, of the shale houses, of the horses, bows, and green fields around the village.
The surroundings are also very pleasant, and with a lot of geocaches that need to be discovered. At this time I was only in the hiking mood so, only the ones on our path could have been found (not even all, just a few).
At the cafe we can have a drink, talk with the locals about the best way for our route, and to find this:

 Vale a Pena

(if you are not sure where it can be found, just ask)

The first part of the way is done passing by the village, in the roads where the animals also use to go for the fields, then we have to cross the small water course, and on the other side we take a path that take us to a gorge. Not being the largest and highest that I've crossed, for sure is very imposing and with a waterfall on the right side, going down, and hearing the water running is a great sensation.
Here it's the so called "Path where the dead man killed the living one" (they say, I don't know if it's true or not, that in the past, where there was no cemetery in the village, they had to take the dead people to the nearby village to be buried, and on the way, going down on this path, once the coffin just slipped and killed of the of the persons that was carrying it).

A cache, is also present in this place. It's easy to find, even if it's not so easy to get here.

Dark Side of the Moon

From here we go down until we reach the Covas do Rio village, where we spotted an old lady with her goats, a very typical imaged of the old times, but very present in this are. Amazing!

After Covas do Rio, we go a bit more down, until we cross the water course, and then we start ascending, going a road  that allows to see all the beauties of the surrounding mountains, some with imposing rocks, some with goats and sheep.

Our next stop was where we arrive to a point where the green fields, the mountains, and the old houses, show us the Covas do Monte village, on half of our circuit.
Here you can also find a geocache, but this time we didn't went for it.

 "É só cornos no ar!" - [Covas do Monte]

The locals told us that there was a shortcut to go to the Pena Village, but we wanted to complete the challenge, and went to the top of the mountain, near the Portal do Inferno. It was not easy, once the rain was also starting to apear, and the climbing is very challenging here.
On the way there are a few waterfalls, and a geocache, that once more wasn't visited, just seen the place where it's located.

Trilho Maia (Cascata no Rio Pego)

Arriving at the top of the mountain we still have more than 2Km to arrive to the Pena Village, being the first half done on the top, by the road.
After, we start descending, using a small path, very beautiful, with a lot of shale stones.

Arriving to Pena take us exactly to the place where start, on the other side of the water course.

It's one of the best trails I've ever done, now I will try to return in the spring, to have a more colorful view of the mountains.