Hiking Pico

One reason for specifically choosing to visit Pico island was to take on a challenge and to climb to the summit of Mount Pico, at 2,351 meters, the highest mountain in Portugal. I had spent a few months training for this, with daily stints on my cross-trainer, stretching and strength based exercises and a weight loss of over half a stone (which I had hoped would result in less weight to lug up the mountain).

Mike had pre-registered and paid the €25 fee per person for our permits which was to take place on the Tuesday of our trip. For safety reasons, climbing the mountain is strictly controlled and when you arrive you have to register at the mountain hut where you are provided with a GPS tracker.

With thunderstorms forecast, we left the holiday house anticipating the climb might be cancelled and resigned that we may not be able to do the climb. However, as Mike hadn’t received any notification to this effect we drove, as planned, for 45 minutes up to the mountain hut.

But this was the car park at the mountain centre… the centre was open however we were informed by the guides that due to the forecast thunderstorms, the mountain would be closed that day and Mike would receive his 150 euro refund.

Lajes circular walk

Plan B for today was a 9 mile circular walk which began from the coastal village of Lajes and Russell drove us straight from the mountain to the village. Chris had stayed behind today so the 5 of us started our hike with a morale boosting coffee and snack.

We found Danny’s Bar in the centre of the village and I had an espresso together with a Pastel de nata, a traditional Portuguese custard tart.

From Danny’s bar we set off along the coastal path. An information board explained that Pico island is relatively young having been formed about 300,000 years ago.

Jardim Penedo Negro is well kept and pretty garden and in the distance you can see Sao Joao jutting out into the sea. Sao Joao was formed by volcanic activity in 1718.

From the Jardim we started to climb higher as we made our way along the coast road.

Views of the coast behind us began to open up.

Before long, at the end of the village, we turned off the road and onto a dirt track, again hugging the coast.

We could see a storm in the distant ocean getting closer and sure enough the rain started while we were on this path. Waterproof time!

The route took us through a small village (but no photos as by now the rain was torrential) then past volcanic fields and along narrow pathways between the stone walls. Russell took the above photo of me, followed by Flo and Mike in the pouring rain!

The rain was heavy as we trudged up and up.

We reached Miradoouro do Cabeco do Geraldo at 13.00 and as the rain had eased off it was time for our picnic lunch. At 460 m above sea level we had a panoramic view of the south coast of Pico, across the Atlantic Ocean.

We were by now just over the half way point of our walk and as it wasn’t raining we set off after lunch feeling refreshed.

We had spectacular panoramic views on our descent back to Lajes village.

We passed through lush countryside where we could smell fresh mint.

But, after a couple of rainfree hours we had to put our waterproofs back on again as the distant thunder clouds soon closed in. In heavy rain we carefully made out way down steep and slippery rocky volcanic pathways.

As we continued our descent, we could see Pico in the distance with its clear peak visible again.

Back in the village and it was time for a celebration post walk drink which we had in Bistrot Whale cafe.

Feeling damp and uncomfortable, we returned to the holiday house, had showers and then later the 6 of us drove back to Lajes to restaurant Ritinha where I enjoyed another fabulous grilled tuna dish with a glass of chilled local white wine.

This was our last evening in Pico before our 09.25 flight back to Ponta Delgada on Sao Miguel island the following morning.

Flight back to Sao Miguel island

We had dropped off our Pico hire cars back to Avis, waited a short time and boarded our small plane. As the plane ascended, still in clouds, the summit of Mount Pico was poking out as our plane flew past.

Back at Ponta Delgada airport and by 10:30 am we had collected two more pre-booked hire cars and continued our Azores trip with another full, activity packed day ahead…