day 1 walking

For the first day of our walking holiday we will begin with a relatively easy circular walk of about 10 kms. Steve collects us about 9am and drives us to the village of Sayalonga to start the walk We begin to descend, passing beneath the cemetery on a concrete track, dropping down through fertile groves of fruit trees. The track meets the river(1.5 kms), runs alongside it for a short distance and then crosses over a narrow bridge with railings. We continue along with the river to our right past two very grand houses. The track climbs through more lush well irrigated terraces.

The track soon heads directly away from the river up a small side valley, climbing steeply. We pass some bamboo and then pass between a cluster of farm buildings. One of the farm houses to the right has secaderos (drying beds).We continue climbing and Competa is soon visible to the right and soon Corumbela comes into view. We pass several small farms and cannot escape the smell of the goats! The track descends slightly (3 kms), passes over a gulley and then passes Las tres Fuentes (the three fountains), a lovely spot to rest for a while.After a short distance we hit the tarmac road which by passes Corumbela.

The village bar Cantero, is a good place for a cool drink.(5kms) Refreshed we continue on a track which passes by a farm where you can buy wine. We reach a fork where there are fantastic views down to the sea. We follow the ridge and soon see Sayalonga on the other side of the valley.

The track descends sharply until we reach the river (ford), which we cross, and follow a concreted road steeply uphill. Shortly after passing a pylon we come to a white building to the left of the track, housing pigs. Immediately before this building we branch left and climb steeply up a stoney path which runs along a metal fence and then between two metal fences. It soon widens and meets with a concreted section of track which brings us to the first houses in the village. Steve meets us at the top of the village (10 kms) and takes us to a lovely restaurant for a late lunch. Afterwards we may visit Sayalonga's famous round cemetery.