Ameixial
Local tips
In the rainy season the streams can run high and be hard to cross; ask in the village before setting out on Link 6. There are no cafés or shops along the way, only at either end. Walking Festival dates are on wfameixial.pt.
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Alte
Alte is a village in the interior of Loulé that many rank among the prettiest and most traditional in Portugal. What defines it is its stream, which runs through the village from Fonte Grande down to Queda do Vigário, where the water drops 24 metres. Along the banks are vegetable plots, irrigation channels, weirs and old watermills, reminders of the days when wheat was ground here and esparto grass left to soak. The springs were also where the village washerwomen met. In the village itself, look for the chimneys, the flowers, the engravings on the walls and the cobbled streets. The parish church and the Pólo Museológico Cândido Guerreiro e Condes de Alte are worth a visit. Cândido Guerreiro, a poet born in Alte, is commemorated at Fonte Pequena. At Fonte Grande there is a natural swimming pool, picnic space and an open-air amphitheatre used for shows.
Loule
Barranco do Velho
Barranco do Velho is a village in the Serra do Caldeirão, in the parish of Salir, where the EN2 road crosses the Via Algarviana. This is cork oak country: cork still carries great weight in the local economy, and the Serra do Caldeirão forest producers' association has its headquarters here. The church dates from 1944. The village also has the Casa dos Cantoneiros (the old roadmenders' house), the Fonte Férrea spring and several drinking fountains and old irrigation tanks. At the fountains people still use 'cocharros', cups made of cork. For walkers it is an unavoidable stop. Sector 5 of the Via Algarviana ends here (29.5 km from Cachopo, graded very hard) and Sector 6 begins, running 14 km to Salir and passing early on the Faranhão windmill, with views from the hills to the coast. Link 6, coming from Ameixial, joins the route about 2 km away. For a short outing, the PR17 circles the village in 5.5 km, almost always in the shade of cork oaks. The village has a restaurant, a craft shop and a medronho brandy distillery.
Loule
Cortelha
Cortelha is a village in the Serra do Caldeirão, in the parish of Salir, Loulé. It sits on the EN2 road a few kilometres north of Barranco do Velho. Cork is the main source of income for the people who live here and the emblem of these hills. Cork is also what makes the village known at Christmas. At Christmas the residents build a nativity scene of about 70 square metres in the Largo da Associação, using what the hills provide: cork, cane, moss, river stones, rockrose, lavender, strawberry tree and rye straw. It has a windmill and a watermill, and the offerings are local: honey, medronho brandy, almonds and carob. The tradition goes back to 2004, the year Cortelha won the competition for nativity scenes in Algarve villages. The nativity stays up until 6 January, and on the night of 24 December the village lights its Christmas bonfire, the Madeiro.
Loule
Fonte Benémola
Fonte Benémola is a 390-hectare protected landscape between Querença and Tôr, in the limestone hills of Loulé. Its great asset is water: the Menalva stream, which further down becomes the Algibre, is fed by springs that keep it flowing along about 60% of its course even in summer. The main ones are 'O Olho' and Fonte Benémola itself. The stream is lined by a dense gallery of willow, ash, poplar and oleander, unusual for the Algarve. Old weirs have been rebuilt and hold back still pools, and you can still see irrigation channels, water wheels with their buckets, a watermill and ruined lime kilns. It is a good place for birds: grey heron, kingfisher, bee-eater, hoopoe and golden oriole among others. Terrapins live in the stretches that hold water all year, and signs of otter turn up from time to time, though the animal itself is rarely seen. The PR16 trail loops round the valley in 4.2 km and passes the spring, where there is a picnic area.
Loule