The trail Piódão – Foz D’ Égua – Chãs D’ Égua, consists of a circular path with 10 km, beginning in the Historic Village of Piódão. This trail is named by the project Vist Arganil of “Pedestrian Route The Peoples of Riverside of Piodam”, with the designation of PR2 (Small Route 2). You can consult the route map on the project website here..
To do it in full, we recommend that you always consider 4 to 6 hours of walk, depending on the rest breaks and the weather, since this is a more difficult route and requires greater physical effort. Additionally, we recommend that you try to avoid the summer months or hot days to do it – we did the trail in the height of summer and it was extremely difficult.
As mentioned, the trail starts in the village of Piódão, more specifically next to the indicative arrows. To get here you must, from the main atrium of the village, go to your left. Among the winding streets of the village, you should find your starting point.
Here you can choose to go to either of the two villages: Foz D’ Égua (to the left) or Chãs D’ Égua (to the right). For those who only want to visit Foz D’Égua, you can take the same route or opt for an alternative (marked) route. In our case, we chose to start with the village of Chãs D’Égua.
The route to Chãs d’Égua is very varied but also exhausting. Following rural paths, we find moments that give us the feeling of walking in the forest, moments in the mountains and others on the terraces, all in just a few km.
This part of the route was, for us, extremely complicated and time consuming due to the heat, forcing constant breaks to recover. Almost on arrival at Chãs d’Égua, we found a group that was returning because they had not been able to find the markings. The same thing happened to us when we reached the terraces, but there's no need to go back. As soon as you see the village at the top, even without finding the markings, head towards it, going up the terraces. This is done in a simple and pleasant way and, as soon as you approach the village, you will immediately find the marks.
this trail is extremely long and exhausting, so you should avoid the summer months and bring plenty of water
Despite being a small village, it is quite pleasant to visit. Here, 10 to 15 minutes are enough to get to know this village built entirely in schist. Additionally, there is a small cafe at the top of the village, which offers an incredible view of the surrounding landscape, where we recommend stopping to regain strength and, if necessary, replenish the water supply. From here the route becomes more isolated, with less shadows and more frequent changes in altitude.
The correct markings reappear in this part of the route, where you can easily see where to go. From here and heading towards Foz d’Égua, the route, despite having little shade, follows mostly a river, which makes the trail cooler and easier to carry out.
From here we go down and up parts of valleys, walk along dirt paths and by road and, when we look ahead, we find one of the most famous places on the trail: the river beach of Foz d'Égua, where you can dive.
There is also a cafe here, where you can rest and recharge. To get there, just go up the stairs towards the road that passes next to the beach and, from there, go down the road.
Then, on the way back to Piódão, there are two different paths.The original (path 2) that is longer, and the optional path (path 2.1) that is shorter. We tried to understand where 2.1 was going but we found it difficult to identify the markings, so we chose to follow route 2.
This final stage of the trail begins with a steep and extremely tiring climb. In this part of the route we saw a small snake, so we recommend that you pay attention to the floor.
After the climb, part of the route is on the road. Although it is not the only part of the trail where this happens, it is necessary to pay more attention here since it is the main access road to Piódão, therefore having a significant amount of recurrent traffic.
Once the road is done, and we are back on the rural paths, we saw the Piódão Hotel and quickly began to see the village, passing through a set of small picturesque bridges. Almost on the steps leading to the village, we have one of the most beautiful views of the entire route: Piódão, in the distance, with the houses all fitted together.
So we reached the end of the route in the same place where it started, next to the sign. Although it is a very tiring trail, whether due to the heat or the altitude, it is undoubtedly a worthwhile route for anyone visiting Piódão and looking to get to know the region.
If you are going to do the whole route, just try to start early as it is a long and time consuming trail. At the same time, try to avoid the hottest days. We also recommend that you take advantage of the possible resting places already mentioned.
This route allows you to, for about 10km, get to know Piódão in a completely different way, so it's worth it despite the associated difficulty.
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