Walk, Bike or Run 200 km

Around Casa da Lima

When I was walking in the Algarve with Willeke we found out that there is a GR route inland. We walked the Fishermen’s trail but you could also leave the coastline. We met a German in the only cafe we saw on our route that day. He loved walking and he loved Portugal I guess. He said he walked the Fishermens’ route too but he didn’t like sand, so he returned for the second time this year, to walk for a week. He said it was so beautiful but there is nothing also nothing to eat or sleep. He really needed to plan carefully.

I gave him Casa da Lima’s business card, he can come to Central Portugal to enjoy this Sico walk.
“Is there is any infrastructure”, he asked.
“Infrastructure?” I asked,
“You don’t have that here in Portugal, you found that out, right?”
“But I will be your infrastructure” I replied.
So I really hope he will find out about this amazing GR26 and he will come here. It would be great to have walkers doing this trail. There are no words, so silent and serenity. If you are looking for that, look no further. I only never see anyone on our walking days. It is not very interesting to have beautiful walking paths but nowhere to sleep, I guess.

At Least 8 Days

…What a challenge this GR26 route. If you decide to walk this path. You need at least 8 days, and you need to be trained, since the stages are long.
The good thing: we will pick you up wherever you stop. So you can decide yourself when you do that!

It is a path in nature, with nothing on the way except when you leave or arrive in town. You need to pack your water, and lunch.

There is an interactive website with explanation of all the stages. It’s for cyclists too. A lot of routes are marked on this website, The GR route and also all the PR routes from Ansiao and Alvaiazere!
Around our terrain Ansiao we have 7 PR routes, all very differently. They are around 17-20 km. So these are nice routes to do during a holiday. in 4-6 hours you are ready! Ready to eat, drink, relax. These PR routes start close to our house, just a 10-15 minute-drive and are circular routes. If you rent a car, it is easy to walk these walking routes. If you don’t we will drop you off and pick you up.

Casa da Lima Stop

We are almost on that trail. From Rabacal the path goes to Casas Novas behind our house, so you just walk over a small hill and you see Ribeira de Alcalamouque. If you just like hiking, walking, enjoy nature by yourself in Portugal, you can reserve at Casa da Lima. The path sometimes crosses the Santiago de Compostela route or the Fatima route. But also these routes are very calm.

PR Walking Routes Ansiao

Walking Holiday Casa da Lima

We have the flyers from all the PR walks around our house and Ansiao for you. They are all around 19 km from 4-6 hours walk. There are 7 walks. They all start form Ansiao, Parque Verde but you can start as close to Casa da Lima. Easy because they are all circular walks.
The first route, PR1 Bonfim is a small route in Ansiao of 8,3 km. A nice one to warm up.

PR2 Roman Route

We start our walking trail with PR2. Since it still is August, we start around 6:00 to avoid the heat after 12:00.
PR2 Rota Romana, the Roman Route. Here we start with a larger trails of around 15 km.. Because we start on the trail in Santiago da Guarda, we don’t need to walk to Ansiao starting point and end point so that saves us 3 km. the route is a one where you also walk in the shade of the trees! There is one cafe on the main street where There was coffee and there were a lot of melons. In some local cafes you can buy local produce too, the cafe was full of the melons. With a visit to the Monumento in Santiago da Guarda where they have Roman mosaics, the Rota Romano is a fact! We arrived here before 11:00. Exactly in time for a museum visit and a lunch in Santiago. There are at least three nice restaurants in this village and a local supermarket.

PR3 Rota dos Pinhais

The PR3 Route of the Pine Forests is a 19,2 km circular walk but also this one is less because we start on the circular path and not heading to Ansiao to start and end. We start at Torre de Vale de Todos. Translated this is ‘Tower, in the valley of everyone’. In the times of the war, the valley belonged to no one, or to everyone!
In less than 5 hours you will be finished with this amazing path through the valley of nobody, Trust me they choose the name for a reason. There is nobody here. The down side is that the path is overgrown with greens and brambles. We couldn’t take the first path out of Torre Vale de Todos. Brambles until above our heads. So we walked via the road and we came back to the path later. At the last part of the walk, we saw a pile of stones, and fallen olive trees. It was really impossible to pass that. Luckily we saw a way out, and suddenly we were on the IC8, were me made a detour. I reported to the municipal, we’ll see if they will maintain it. But if it is like this, and you don’t have Wikiloc, or another app on your phone who knows the route, we advise to take one of the other PR routes.

PR4 Rota das Picotas

PR4 the Route of the ‘water machine wells’ is a climb to Mouro Mountain, a nice viewpoint and another mount Ovelha (sheep) with a mill. It is a 19 km circular route. Calculate 6 hours for this one!

PR5 Rota das Vilas

This PR5 route is the only one not starting in Ansiao. This one goes further out of Ansiao to Avelar. Here are numourous paths, for bikers, runners and walkers. The routes are breathtaking here. It is about 14 km and 4 hours walk. This one crosses PR4 to and passes Ladeia from PR6 route.

PR6 Rota do Vento

Vento means wind. This is the route of the windmills. There are unique windmills here. The start could be in Santiago da Guarda again, we did this, and went to the mill in Melrica first, then the one in Moita Negra, an aluminium mill and in Outeiro you have 3 old mills of wood, turning on the wheels. In Melrica there is another mill and in Moita Negra. You can imagine the views you have from these wind mills. It will be 5-6 hours walk and 18,6 km. If you like fossils you can also go to the fossil museum, but you need to call upfront because it is such a small museum. If you are walking mindfully and looking to the path where you walk going down from Outreiro (and Granja), you will certainly find fossils. It is a really great route through little villages, and with super view points and nice mills for a lot of pictures.

PR7 Rota da Ladeia

Our favourite route. Every year in October we do the trail de Ladeia, which is not this route but parts are similar of course. Our house is very close to this route too, so we are biased. This route near Casa da Lima is 19,3 km. You also go up the Ateanha mountain, with a marvelous view, and sitting on the swing in Ladeia is also breathtaking. When you have a nice viewpoint here you often see a large swing to enjoy all!