Wildside Holidays are very happy to welcome a new hiking and local tour outfit going by the name of
Green Portugal. Based in the pretty little riverside town of Góis in central Portugal. Set up by Jules Brown and Kate Stephenson, who moved to Portugal in 2004, it aims to provide low-impact short breaks and holidays in a region that’s still largely unknown to most foreign visitors.
Inland, en route to the major mountains, and midway between Lisbon and Porto, central Portugal is off the beaten track but accessible. The nearest city, the old university town of Coimbra, is only 45 minutes away, and both Lisbon and Porto airports are within an easy two-hour drive, but Góis itself hides away in the beautiful Ceira river valley, beneath the Serra do Açor mountain range.
Jules is co-author of the Rough Guide to Portugal, and has worked for Rough Guides and other travel publishers for over 20 years. He’s put his walking and travel experience to good use, devising a series of self-guided routes in the hills and valleys around Góis, on forestry tracks, mountain paths and country lanes.
Portugal doesn’t have anything like the walking culture or infrastructure of Spain - long-distance routes are few, signs are rare, dedicated footpaths not always maintained. But Jules’ personally researched route guides and maps ensure an easy day out, and pick-ups and drop-offs are very flexible, depending on what sort of walker you are and how far you want to go. Work permitting, there’s even a “walk with the travel writer” option for those who would rather someone else was in charge of finding the way!
Once out on the trails, you’ll soon see why Green Portugal claim “These routes are made for walking!”. It’s rare to meet another hiker, but you’ll pass through rustic hamlets where people still wash their clothes in communal outdoor laundries and spread corn out to dry in front of their houses. You might surprise a deer or wild boar in the forest, and most routes are a mix of mountain-top and river valley sections, with shade provided by the ubiquitous pine, oak and eucalyptus.
Apart from the odd café or small local shop, facilities en route are scarce, which is why Green Portugal set so much store by their walk lunches. Usually, a full catered buffet awaits, complete with chilled drinks (or coffee and soup in winter), though on some walks there’s lunch instead in a private mountain cottage, where you look across to the goat farm where the cheese you’re eating was made.
There’s plenty more information on Green Portugal’s walks, tours, activities and accommodation options on the website,
www.greenportugal.com.
