PR11Tresmonte

The farmstead that fell silent

This route leads to a place where people lived until less than fifty years ago and where nobody lives today. Quinta de Tresmonte is not an ancient ruin of uncertain history — it is a recent absence: until the late 1970s, some thirty people lived here, with a flock of more than 150 sheep and around twenty cattle. It had a bread oven, a wine cellar, an olive press and a plunge spring, everything needed to be entirely self-sufficient. The walls remain, now used as hay stores.

Around the farmstead, the route traces the slopes above the river Rabaçal, in the western part of Parque Natural de Montesinho, where the landscape takes on a different character: more schist, deeper valleys, more exposed rock.

Gestosa

The route is circular and begins and ends in the village square of Gestosa, a village of well-preserved and well-kept schist houses. The link between the village and the surrounding land follows the Rua do Regadio, between plots that the local population continues to work, with vineyards and pastures. The trail does not pass through the rest of the village, but it is worth exploring independently, before or after the walk: Gestosa has a café — a rarity in this network — and the Museu das Terras de Lomba, beside the church.

Sr. António Barreira's wheel

In the southern corner of the square, right beside the route, a piece of equipment is on display that deserves a couple of minutes: the tool with which Sr. António Barreira fitted the metal tyres onto the wooden wheels of ox carts and wagons. It was the retreading of its day, done with fire and hammer. It stands there as both beginning and end — the first thing seen on departure and the last on return.

Quinta de Tresmonte

Anyone arriving at the farmstead quickly understands why that spot was chosen. The land is fertile and water is plentiful: beside the houses, a large tank still receives the spring that flows abundantly nearby. The kitchen gardens around it continue to be cultivated by the people of Gestosa, and the fruit trees remain — apple, cherry, quince and pear — bearing fruit with no owner at the doors of houses with no one inside.

The Rabaçal and the Ponte Medieval da Gestosa

The river accompanies roughly half of the route. At the bottom of the valley stands the Ponte Medieval da Gestosa, reached by a very old track and a 30-metre detour that should not be skipped. From the top of the bridge, one can see what the Rabaçal has achieved over thousands of years: a valley carved by sheer force, with rocks sculpted by the raw power of the water. The path between the river and the village is wide but has steep gradients, and the landscape more than compensates for the effort. For those who wish to see more of the Rabaçal, the PR2 · Entre o Mente e o Rabaçal follows the gorge of the same river.