Once dominant…

Standing for ages passed and thriving for another day, this noble and ancient being is bathed by early sunlight. Portuguese northern forests were once dominated by oak trees… Some things should never change.

Common oak, penduculate oak; carvalho-alvarinho, carvalho-roble – Quercus robur

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, April

Summer nights

A panoramic nightscape, taken from the trail that leads to the submerged village of Vilarinho das Furnas, in the heart of Peneda-Gerês National Park. Even in a clear summer night, the dam’s reservoir and the surrounding autochthonous forests fill the valley with moist air, creating clouds that quickly dissipate with the wind. While this region is fairly deep in Homem River’s valley, when facing West, light pollution from the nearby villages and the large city of Braga dominates the horizon.

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, July

Fecha de Barjas – a new perspective

The first publications I did for this blog were photographs taken from this location. Recently, I repeated the short trail to Fecha de Barjas waterfalls. Yet, I had few hopes of witnessing the full glory of River Arado, as Portugal has had the driest April of the last 90 years. Nonetheless, the river was there, scarce, but still flowing. The bottom half of this sequence of waterfalls is so dominant over the landscape that visitors (as I did before) tend to focus on the closest perspectives. This time, I focused on framing perspectives more afar.
The shepherd’s shelter, built on top of the cliff, exhibits both the hardship of older times but also how close traditional rural life was with the beauty of Nature. When Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Fallingwater house, already some Portuguese inhabitant of Gerês Mountains had done some similar.

Ermida, Terras de Bouro, Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, April

Standing tall among giants

A granny's nightcap - Aquilegia vulgaris stretches towards the scarce sunlight that penetrates the dense woods of Mata da Albergaria.

European columbine, granny's nightcap, aquilégia [PT]  - Aquilegia vulgaris

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, April

Hello sunshine

The western mountains of Gerês shining with the rising Sun, while the deep valley of Cávado River still hanging in the twilight. Interestingly, while I was taking this photograph in a rather inhabited region of Gerês Mountain Range, I was also overlooking one of the most populated and well known touristic locations: the two bridges over Cávado River and the villages of Rio Caldo and Vilar da Veiga. This perspective also illustrates the balance between Nature and human population within the Peneda-Gerês National Park (PNPG).

Terras de Bouro, Portugal
2017, April

Vanishing point

The moment you know where you’re heading…

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Solitude

One of the things I, truly, miss in some regions of Gêres are forests. With some exceptions, like Mata da Albergaria, you can walk long distances without observing a single mature tree. While trees do not thrive in higher altitudes, the truth is that Gerês was once far more forested that it is nowadays. The exploration of woodlands for building, coal and fire without replanting (sustaining) forests, and, particularly, the devastating fires in the last decades left these mountains deprived of true forests patches. Sometimes, deep in the valleys, especially along streams, you can still see several species of autochthones trees, offering a glimpse of the forests that may have once stood here.
In this trail, I found a young cork tree, isolated in a mountain side. Its organic shape stands out from the rocky landscape. It was alone, truly alone, in the sense that I haven’t seen anything but rocks, bushes and grass for kilometres.

Cork oak / Sobreiro - Quercus suber

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

A dangerous procession in my path

With the trail passing by woodland, I saw an interesting behavioural manifestation of a group of small but quite deadly creatures. Adult pine processionary caterpillars leave their nests up in the pine trees and crawl in large groups, forming a single line. They actually travel for lengthy distances, until finding soft ground to burying themselves, forming cocoons and, later, emerging as moths.

It is also in this later adult stage that they can become deadly as their only defence against predators is their hairy spikes. These, upon contact, can cause severe rashes and even allergic reactions. Moreover, when under stress, these caterpillars eject their hairs which cling to the predator’s skin, eyes and respiratory airways. Dogs, with their curiosity, easily fall severely ill and may perish from just sniffing these caterpillars. Fortunately, this deadly procession only lasts a couple days a year, commonly occurring in the first warm days of spring.

These caterpillars are a devastating plague for pine woodlands. However, they have become a plague because of former agricultural policies which replaced autochthones forests with monocultures of their preferred habitat: the pine tree. Moreover, the natural predators of these caterpillars, crickets, bats and several birds’ species, fail on having natural environments to successfully breed in sufficient numbers to control the population. One major issue of forest farming is that trees are taken down without aging enough to provide natural shelters, i.e. small cavities, for birds to nest. One possible contribution would be to provide, in the affected regions, artificial nests for predators such as the great tit.

Pine processionary / Lagarta processionária do pinheiro - Thaumetopoea pityocampa Schiff. 

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Awakening Giant

Alto da Surreira do Meio Dia, a southeast mountain of Gerês, becomes illuminated by the sunrise. Facing it, the very small village of Fontainho still hangs in the darkness. What an amazing sight must be to have this rocky giant as your daily background when you open the windows.
[PT]Alto da Surreira do Meio Dia, na zona sudoeste do Gerês, iluminada pelo nascer do Sol. À sua frente, a aldeia de Fontainho permanece ainda na escuridão. Que bela imagem deve ser acordar diariamente perante o cenário deste gigante rochoso.

Serra do Gerês, Cabril, Portugal
2017, Março

Winter overrides spring

After a couple of days of very shinny and quite warm days, winter has made a sudden comeback and has overridden flower blossoms with a mantle of white fresh snow. Had no time to photograph it but I still had this one from last February’s snowstorm.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, Fevereiro

Salamander’s Pool

[EN] And then I realized I was not truly alone. This fire-salamander passed by, swimming upstream just to find a steady spot. Then it stood there, gently floating and holding itself by a grass leaf, while warming up with the sunlight. I was truly witnessing the undisturbed Nature’s most peaceful beauty. I found no given name for this specific part of the stream. Thus, and at least for my records, I hereby claim it as The Pool of The Salamander.

[PT] Foi neste momento que me apercebi que não estava sozinho. Uma salamandra-de-pintas-amarelas passou por mim, nadando corrente acima até encontrar um local calmo. E ali ficou, a gentilmente a flutuar, segurando-se por uma erva submergida, enquanto se aquecia ao Sol. Eu estava, realmente, a testemunhar o lado mais pacífico da beleza da imperturbada Natureza. Não encontrei um nome para esta poça em particular. Desta forma e pelo menos para os meus registos, baptizo este local da “Poça da Salamandra”.

Fire salamander / salamandra-de-fogo ou salamandra-de-pintas-amarelas – Salamandra-salamandra

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Ode to the skies

The day as awakened with a perfect and very deep blue sky. No clouds in sight, temperatures rising above 25ºC, and a slight breeze, nothing else. While this weather would be perfect for walking a trail, it dulls landscape photography by filling the upper composition with a rather monotonic and texture-less blue. Well, I said to myself, just dedicate your compositions to the mountains. Fill in those two thirds with rocky landscapes and patches of grass. That’s what matters.
And then this happens… the sky fills in with all its glory, steals all the protagonism from the mountains and, essentially, draws poetry in motion. I just stood there, witnessing it, and holding the camera and pointing it way to high, above the horizon…
[PT] O dia acordou com um céu de um profundo azul. Sem qualquer nuvem à vista, temperaturas acima dos 25ºC, uma pequena briza, e nada mais. Embora estas condições sejam óptimas para percorrer um trilho, acabam por empobrecer a fotografia de paisagem por encherem a parte superior da composição com um azul monotónico. Dediquei-me a encher as minhas composições com montanhas, enchendo os primeiros dois terços de rochas e vegetação. Era o que interessava.
E depois isto acontece. O céu enche-se de glória, rouba todo o protagonismo às montanhas e, essencialmente, desenha poesia em movimento. E eu fiquei ali, a testemunhar algo de extraordinário e a segurar a câmara, apontando-a bem acima do horizonte….

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

Horizons – Laje dos Bois Panorama

The greatest gift I could receive in my birthday is… myself! And then make use of this day to walk a beautiful trail in the mountains and get my own ego crushed by the magnitude of these landscapes.
Laje dos Bois is a very small plateau, in the Gerês Eastern Mountains. It holds a patch of grassland, encircled by human laid rocks. This ancient grazing area is used to keep and feed cattle at high-altitude and very rocky landscapes. This is a 360º panorama of the horizon observable from its center.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, March

By the way, my “spring has arrived series” was suddenly interrupted by a 30ºC summer day in March. I’ll return to it…

Old trees are unique

Growing firmly on the ridge of a trail, an old almond willow has shaped itself uniquely. Despite its size, any bonsai enthusiast would envy such natural achievement. Salix triandra is a native/autochthones species, although this particular specimen is interestingly far from its most natural region, Trás-Os-Montes

Almond willow, salgueiro-de-folhas-de-amendoeira – Salix triandra

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February

Serra do Gerês - a full panoramic view

Looking North, towards the entirety of Gerês Mountain Range, quite properly exhibiting Winter in all its glory (and coldness). Gerês Town can be seen in the valley at the right, with its households fading into the altitude of the mountains.

Olhando para Norte, para a totalidade da Serra do Gerês, apropriadamente no seu glorioso estado Invernal. A Vila do Gerês pode ser vista, no vale à direita, esbatendo-se em altitude.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February

Sunset at Arado’s Waterfall

Being relatively close to a road, and a starting point for many trails in Gerês Mountains, Arado’s waterfall is one of the most scenic and tourist spots of the National Park. The waterfall is formed by the streams of Teixeira river, Lomba and Corga da Giesteira streams, and other lesser affluent. Yet, at this location, the river vertically drops 30m in a magnificent succession of waterfalls. Returning from a trail, what caught my attention were not the waterfalls themselves but the late afternoon sunlight hitting and strongly coloring the trees that frame this location.

Sendo relativamente perto de uma Estrada, e um excelente ponto de partida para vários trilhos na Serra do Gerês, a Cascata do Arado é um dos locais mais cénicos e visitados do Parque Nacional. A cascata em si é formada pelos caudais do Rio Teixeira, da Ribeira da Lomba, da Corga da Giesteira e de mais alguns afluentes menores. No entanto, neste local, o rio caí verticalmente em quase 30m, criando uma magnífica sucessão de cascatas. No regresso de um trilho, o que me captou a atenção não foram as cascatas em si mas o intenso Sol de fim de tarde, a embater e a colorir as folhas das árvores que enquadram este local.

(Note: in this photography, only the intermediate waterfall can be seen).
Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February

Never look back…

...some say. And I say NO! Well, at least when the path you’ve walked on exhibits such beauty.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February

Corga da Giesteira

Corga da Giesteira, a steep valley in the Gerês Mountains. In Portuguese, “corga”, a shorter form of “córrego”, is inherited from the latim “currŭga” which means “canal de água”: a way or path opened by flowing water. I haven’t found the name of the prominent peak. Some say there is a trail down there…

Corga da Giesteira, um vale cavado pelas águas nas montanhas do Gerês. Para o português, corga ou córrego provém do latim (suponho que meio misturado com o galego) currŭga: um caminho estreito e numa depressão profunda do terreno, sulco ou canal aberto pelas águas correntes; regueiro. Não encontrei o nome (se é que dele há memória) para este pico. Há quem diga que há um trilho por ali…

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February

Unfinished sculptures

Rough granite walls, just south of Vale de Teixeira in Gerês Mountains, hint a dramatic change in the landscape.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February

Teixeira Valley ( Vale de Teixeira )

With its beauty, this valley lays hidden in the closest eastern mountains of Gerês village. Similarly to the river that runs through it, the valley was named Teixeira, possibly as it was covered with a forest of yew trees (Taxus baccata). The yew forest is long gone, and only a few secular oaks remain at its bottom.

Com a sua beleza, este vale permanece escondido nas montanhas próximas, a Este da Vila do Gerês. O vale de Teixeira assim como o seu rio assumem o nome de uma floresta de Teixos. Desta, não sobram vestígios e apenas restam uns poucos carvalhos seculares no fundo do vale.

Serra do Gerês, Portugal
2017, February