Hiking the Shepherds' Paths of the Montado

The story

The best way to know the montado is at walking pace. An old shepherd's path leaves the tarmac and climbs between granite walls and cork oaks, past wells and boundary stones, to a rise where the plains open out in every direction. Along the way, a local guide reads the country like a book: which oaks were stripped this year, where the acorns fall for the pigs, what the low scrub is called and when it flowers. Stop in the shade of a great oak for a simple picnic of bread, cheese and olives before the path loops home through the silence of the plains.