ROUTE
PR1
ARIZ
CARAPITO
GRANJA DO PAIVA
PERAVELHA
SOUTOSA
PEVA
SEGÕES
QUINTAS DA NAVE
PLANALTO DA NAVE
SENHOR DOS AFLITOS
± 7h / 25.6 km / medium
Coordinates:
N 40o55’1.09’’ / W 07o37’1.78’’
Type of route:
Short, circular route, marked in both directions, according to the standards of the Portuguese Camping and Mountaineering Federation.
At 9.6 km from the start, the route has a branch that allows you to connect to another point on the same route, allowing it to be divided into two smaller circular routes. If you choose this solution, you will travel a 16.8 km trail, in about 5 hours (starting at Senhor dos Aflitos), or a 9 km trail, in 3 hours, starting at the Segões river beach.
Maximum/minimum elevation:
874m / 764m
Difficulty:
Medium
Recommended season:
All year round. Pay attention to the heat in summer and, in winter, to the slippery ground and snowfall.
Crystal clear waters, verdant mountains, villages full of history.
In Parque Paiva Natura, nature is still in its purest state.
The Paiva Route hiking trail starts in the Senhor dos Aflitos picnic park and has the Paiva River and the surrounding rural environment as its central theme. This route allows privileged contact with nature and the discovery of countless landscape, heritage and ethnological treasures, present in the small villages that are spread throughout this territory, full of history and soul.
The landscape features numerous granitic geological formations that outcrop to the surface and favor the presence of fauna and flora that are unique to it.
With approximately 110 km in length, the Paiva River rises on the Nave plateau, in the village of Carapito (Moimenta da Beira), at an altitude of approximately 1000 m, and flows into Castelo de Paiva, on the left bank of the Douro River. Its bed runs through the Rede Natura 2000 territory, corresponding to the Rio Paiva Site of Community Importance (SCI).
Considered one of the best rivers in Europe, the Paiva runs, in its initial stretch, through a plateau, where scrubland, agricultural fields, meadows and oak groves predominate, with the vegetation presenting a continental character.
In its middle section, it follows a narrow valley, whose slopes are covered by planted patches of pine and eucalyptus, scrubland and also by oak and cork oak groves. In part of this section, the orientation of the river, the steep slopes and the predominance of schist substrate determine the existence of vegetation of a thermo-Mediterranean character. In its final part, the slopes show high coverage and good vegetation density, already indicating an Atlantic character.
Along this route, discover and enjoy the strategic responses that vegetation has adopted over time, in the face of the continuous environmental variations to which our planet is exposed. The climatic variability since the Upper Triassic has favored the diversification of responses and, thus, the development of the behavior strategies that you will observe.
The exceptional value of the flora and vegetation present here is associated with 235 species of fauna that depend on and benefit from them, attributing to the valley of this river a valuable landscape and biodiversity potential.