Useful Information

The Trueman's Treks in Portugal

Walk No 1 -  Villages, Orchards, Windmills

Walk No 2 - Pegoes Aqueduct

Walk No 3 -  Hamlets North of Ferreira do Zêzere

Walk No 4 -  River Confluence

Walk No 5 - Pretty River

Walk No 6 - Serra de Aire

Walk No 7 - Country Lanes

Walk 8 - Vale do Alvorão

Walk 9 - Make Your Eyes Water

Walk 10 - Serra and the Lake

Walk 11 - Views & Solitude

Walk 12 A & B - Exploring the Candeeiros

Walk 13 - Summit of the Candeeiros

Walk 14 - Beware of the Cats

The Truemans' Treks - Walk 10 - Serra and the Lake

Serra in central Portugal is a small village with few residents but acts as the centre for many surrounding hamlets, with a magnificent church, a shop and four bar/cafes.

The walk starts from the village centre and passes through rural villages and woodland, offering great views of the Castelo do Bode lake. It also includes river beaches, ideal for cooling off on hot days or resting with a picnic.  The route of around 16 km. can easily be split into 2 shorter 8 km walks.

Distance: 8 to 16 km.

Time: 3 to 6 hrs

Map: Carta Militar Numero 311

Start. Serra is found to the east of Tomar and is signposted from the IC3. There is ample parking in the village centre.

1. There are several roads leading from the centre so please be careful in finding the correct start point. Entering Serra from Tomar and facing the church door, the road is to the right with a small bar on the corner. Take this road for about 50 metres and turn left signposted (amongst many other things) to Vila Nova. Follow the road downhill, ignoring the first left hand turn (back into the village) and, after 100 metres, take the left hand turn dropping downhill.

This road leads through some pretty houses and some which are a little, shall we say, rustic.

2. After about 600 metres, the road bends right around a well-managed vegetable garden, to meet a T junction after a further 50 metres. Turn left and pass under a strange overhead corridor between houses until you reach a junction where you turn right.

If you look down to the right just after the turning you will see an old well/fountain which was the main source of water for the surrounding houses until the 1980’s when mains water was installed to the villages.

3. After 200 metres, the road forks. Take the left hand fork towards the village of Barreiras. Follow this road ignoring any turnings through the village and past the church until you reach a T junction, where you turn right.

On a sharp left hand bend into the village, there is an old olive mill which served the local community – now dilapidated but attractive in a ramshackle sort of way.

4. After the first T junction, you meet a second at a main road, where you turn left and then, after a further 100 metres turn left again. Follow this road over a cross roads after 100 metres (look out for a stone water fountain on the left) until the road bends left (another 100 metres) where you take a track to the right which almost immediately turns left.

From the track there are superb views of the lake and the hotel on the Isla do Lombo.

5. After about 50 metres, take the track to the right which runs alongside a wall and winds through farmland for 300 metres, again offering views of the lake, until you meet a road. Turn left. Follow this road down hill to the lake where it bends right and runs alongside the lake for some 500 metres. The road then bends sharply right and climbs uphill on a rougher track.

You will pass a disused café, from where a ferry once ran to the Isla do Lombo. There is also a small mooring for boats and, on the right hand bend, one of the best beaches on the lake. Ideal to stop and rest awhile of perhaps partake of a refreshing paddle.  

6. The track ends at a small road where you turn left, meeting another road where you turn left again. After 200 metres take another left down a rougher track which leads to the lake. When you meet a T junction, you can turn left and visit a smaller beach before returning, or turn right to continue the walk. Follow the track, ignoring any side turnings to the village of Outeira da Barreira.

7. In the village, turn left along the road which leads uphill for almost one km. This can be a bit of flog, but you are rewarded with some of the best views of the lake in the area to your left. The road reaches a roundabout where you turn right.

At this point, you can either continue on the road for 600 metres back to Serra or take the next left through Quinta do Filipe for the second part of the walk.

8. Having turned left, follow the road past an untidy recycling point until the road forks. Take the right hand fork and follow the road through Caramouchel and Portela. In Portela, take the second road on the left, then the right hand fork after 100 metres.

There is a short detour in Portelas if you continue forward instead of taking the road to the left. Here you pass a small cottage with a sign marking the residence of one Maria Godinho who lived there for just over 100 years.

Just after the house is an area on the right which could have been used as a summer bar and is ideal for a short rest. Should you not wish to return to the main road after the detour, you can proceed directly ahead, but the path is overgrown and your legs will be attacked by vicious plants.

9. Follow this track through pine and eucalyptus plantations, ignoring any turnings until the road forks, where you take the right hand fork onto a road. Follow this road which eventually leads uphill – a long but unavoidable flog – to a main road where you left then almost immediately right towards Levegada.

At the previous fork, you can take a detour and turn left to the new development of Sunrise Bay. Worth a look if, like me, you are nosey

10. After 200 metres, the road turns sharp left into Levegada, but here you turn right onto a track running alongside a small scrap yard. Follow this track as it goes downhill and bends sharply left (careful not to take the right hand fork at the bend).

11. Continue along this track, and then take the second track on the right after 400 metres. This will lead you past an old, but still inhabited cottage with a huge palm tree (Casal das Pocas or House of the Puddles) before meeting yet another T junction of paths where you turn left past a vineyard to meet a larger track at a T junction. Here you turn right and simply follow the track through the rural village of Carvalhal to Serra, some one kilometre distant.

The village of Carvalhal is a typical example of a rural village with well-tended vegetable plots, tidy houses and a pleasant social centre.

At the end of the village, just before crossing a wide gravel road, look out for the pretty cross on the right.

Useful Information

Walking in Portugal