#36 - Exploring Caves near Lisbon - Serra da Carva

 

Following the previous post on caves exploration near Lisbon (see here), we keep looking for places that allow us to explore some caves and this time the destination is Monfirre, a Portuguese village in the municipality of Mafra, located 20km away of Lisbon.

 

This is an unofficial, unmarked route, and begins near the Lousa bridge, heading towards the escarpments of the mountain. It is a circular route of about 19km, with some difficulty especially due to the poor maintenance of some sections where the vegetation completely covers the same as well as some steep climbs. 

We then left the car next to the Lousa bridge and started this hike with the first objective of reaching the top of the Serra da Carva, enjoying along the way some points of interest existing in this village

The escarpments called Penedo do Gato are visible inthe distance at the very top os the mountain. Out trail lead us there , leaving the village behind

In this escarpments we found Loca do Gato, a small cave with two entrances that seen from a distance resemble the eyes of a cat. Here we stopped for a while to explore the cave a rest a bit

Leaving the escarments behind and heading towards the forest right in front of us, we passed some unofficial trails but whose names are very curious, such as "Cat Trail", "Antenas trail", Bela Vista trail", "Lapas trail", "Pedo do Diabo trail". Special attention to the "Bestinha trail" which is the steeepest climb of the entire route and physically demanding.

The green surroundings of the mountains are predominant on this route, especially on the "Trilho das Antenas" section, whose nature completely surrounds us

After leaving this section, we take part of the path between cultivated land until reaching the "Trilho das Lapas" section. From here it is necessary to be extremely careful as the path is covered by vegetation and must be done only by those who have the route in an app or who have a good sense of orientation.

Resuming to the opened path cleared of vegetation, we follow along some wind energy fields

The final section is called "Tufo Trail" and continues through a beautiful green environment until we reach the starting point next to the Lousa bridge

Photos by @Carlos Denis

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