Portugal The Algarve - Paderne and Alte Sightseeing, Walks and Photo Guide.
Alte and Paderne - our Holiday Walking Guides and Photos for The Algarve in Portugal.
Alte Circular. A fairly short circular walk into the Algarve hills and back which can
either be a 4km circuit or if you go further into the countryside as we did then the distance is around
8.5kms - both walks start from the Fonte Grande.
Alte is
located inland to the north of Abulfeira on the 124 road - the town has very
narrow streets which are best walked round rather than driven. To park keep on
the 124 road towards Salir and take the signposted road on the left to
Fonte Grande. After crossing the narrow bridge turn right and around half a kilometre along there is a picnic area and parking
available - there is a cafe located here too. Note that on weekends and
especially Sundays it gets really busy so you need to get there early else
perhaps pick a weekday when parking is easy. Remember to take some bread
with you since the resident - fat - ducks who live by the picnic area will
expect to be fed. This picnic area at the Fonte Grande is a great place for children to play - the
water is shallow, clean and looked ok for paddling and messing about etc.
From the picnic area continue along the tarmac road - this soon ends to become a wide dirt track -
stay on this often stone-walled track which goes through trees and countryside - the track follows the
river which is a little way down on your right but you cannot see it most of the time due to
the heavy foliage.
Around 1700 metres from the picnic area the
track joins a tarmac road - just a little way along you come to where a
stream crosses the road - worth the small diversion if the weather has been wet.
Walk back from the stream
and then go right on the tarmac road - this climbs quite steeply for over
half a kilometre then bends left - a narrow walled road** joins
from the left here. If you just want to go on back
to the Fonte take this road - which soon changes into a dirt track - and
stay on it until it rejoins the outward track - turn right and follow this
back to the picnic area.
However we wanted to have a bit more of a look round the area - the following description is
therefore a "there and back" section. Continued climbing up the road which soon
started to bend round to the right now going through orange groves.
The road reverts to being a dirt track - there are good views of the
surrounding area from here - the track goes sort of level for a while and
then descends eventually quite steeply to reach a track junction.
The stream is just a little
way ahead if you want to take a look - we did of course - however turn
left at the junction and
follow this narrow farm track which is bordered
by high reeds and general wet area caused by the nearbye stream.
We walked until we reached an open area where there were several ruined buildings -
here we sat under the trees and ate our lunch whilst enjoying the views of
the farmland and hills.
Eventually we simply retraced our steps
back via the orange groves to the previously mentioned road junction**
- went right and followed this really nice little road back as described
earlier to the Fonte.
Before leaving it's worth
having a look round Alte - only a few minutes walk back to the bridge from the picnic area.
Don't cross the bridge and don't forget to feed the poor starving fat ducks - just go
straight ahead into the town and wander
around enjoying looking at the buildings, church, houses and pretty streets
and flowers.
Paderne - 14km Circular walk with some climbs - visits Paderne Castle, Roman Bridge then countryside on rolling
hills via a windmill before returning back across the bridge and returning to Paderne.
The walk
starts from the centre of Paderne where there is a fairly large
car park available (near the cemetery and adjacent to the football
stadium). The town can be quite busy on Saturdays since they have
a street market. It should be noted that Paderne Castle is not all that
fantastic - much of it is ruined and fenced off so you cannot even get
inside - so if you intended simply driving up to "see the castle" the
fairly long bumpy trip up the track is probably not worth the trouble.
However visiting the castle as part of the walk is not a problem.
From the car park go left along the road soon passing the cemetery - keep straight ahead at a
junction and then take the next road on the left which is signposted
"Fonte/Castelo". Follow this narrow tarmac road which passes houses and
goes through open countryside - to the right you can see the high chimneys
of the brick factory.
As the road starts to bear left you will see a
Fonte, washbasins and old buildings on the right - these have been
refurbished so they are in pretty good condition and interesting to look
round.
Back on the road just after
passing the Fonte take a dirt road on the right - signposted "Castelo".
This rough track winds through the countryside passing several old
buildings - always stay on the main track soon with the castle visible up
in the hills. Just after going under the motorway the main track goes left
but keep straight ahead and just after a notice board take a small path on
the left - this climbs up to eventually re-join a dirt track just before
the castle.
Continue along to the castle - as mentioned you cannot get inside but you can
walk completely round it's still imposing walls and enjoy the views of
the valley and river below - also you get a sneak preview of the Roman
Bridge amongst the trees. Facing the castle entrance take the path on
it's left side - at the end of the castle wall continue straight on via a
really narrow path - this wanders along the hillside at first heading away
from the Roman Bridge before going left and heading at times quite steeply
downhill to reach a path alongside the river bed.
Turn left and follow this really nice path sometimes passing through really heavy foliage to
reach the Roman Bridge - on the way there are pretty good views of the
Castle including a view of the church - not previously visible.
Cross the bridge and turn left - after a short distance look for a narrow path on the right which goes
steeply up hill - stay on this path - shortly after passing a ruined
building on the right the path seems to end but it does in fact go left
and soon becomes a much wider path. On reaching a t-junction turn right
now on a narrow track with has heavy and really wide stone walls.
The track goes fairly straight and descends a little to reach a track junction - go left and then at the
next junction go right - you can now see the motorway bridge and a
corrugated building. This bit of the walk is not so good since the area
has been used for dumping rubbish - however this is not for very long -
cross the motorway bridge.
Continue straight ahead then when the track swings to
the right keep straight ahead on a dirt path which goes across
fields and almost appears to go through houses and gardens - it then becomes a
walled trail. The trail comes out between houses on a small tarmac road
- go right and soon reach a much wider road - go right again and follow
this along eventually going under the motorway. You will soon see a
ruined windmill on the right - a narrow track takes you up to it - the
motorway and it's fast traffic seem really close here.
Return to the road and turn
right - the road winds and climbs and soon after passing farm buildings on
the right you cross the motorway via a bridge. Once across take the track
on the left - this eventually passes some houses complete with very yappy
dogs - there is a big iron sign across the path which says "Azenha".
Go down this very steep and
stoney track - the castle is now high up ahead of you. Just a little way
down the track take a path on the right which drops sometimes quite
steeply back down to the river where you turn right. (However it's worth
diverting left here to take a look at the old mill, millstones and the river just a little way along).
Follow the path alongside the river bed and after about a kilometre you will arrive back at the Roman Bridge.
Cross over and turn right onto a track - just after this look out on the right for the remains of mill - this is
really covered with brambles but you can climb along the wall and inside
you will see a millstone and the various water channels - really
interesting. Just opposite this there is a bee-hive oven - in really good
condition.
Continue along the rubble track - this
winds round and steeply up to reach a t-junction, go left and continue on
this now quite wide track. Ignore a track on the left (unless you need to
walk back up to the castle) - the track swings round to the right and
starts to descend - ignore a track which comes in from the right and
eventually arrive back at the motorway bridge. Go right under the bridge
and walk back along the original outbound track to the road junction.
Turn right along the road which soon starts to climb then as the road bends right take a track on the left by a ruined building. The track soon becomes a road - just stay
on this eventually passing a lot of houses and apartments on the left - stay on the main road passing a school and soon getting a good view of
Paderne and the football stadium below you. Follow the road steeply down into Paderne - at the road junction go right and head back to the car park/start point.
We have a series of Algarve Holiday Guides, Walks and Pictures which you may care to look at. These are packed with photos from around the Algarve so even if you are not too interested in walking and hiking the pages do show various locations which you might find of interest to visit whilst on holiday in Portugal - Please visit our Home Page.
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