Cradle of the Côa

The walking circuit of the Craddle of the Côa

This is a circular route located at the North of Malcata Mountain, starting and finishing in the central area of the village of Fóios. This area connects with the Spanish border, being Navasfrías the nearest village. The proposed route heads in an easterly direction, leaving the village when it crosses the Côa River. Following upstream, practically along its course, it passes through green meadows, oak woods and chestnut groves, separated by a grid of schist walls. It goes up gradually until, at an altitude of about 1100m, the landscape begins to transform, as does its substratum, which changes from schist to granite. Next to the border, it makes use of an old smuggling route and, in its upper part, it includes a section of a Biodiversity Station installed here. The slopes of the mountain are less wooded, with a greater presence of granite forms, and shrubs.

At the Cradle of the Côa

At an altitude of about 1175m, it reaches the source of the Côa River. It continues, climbing a little more until it reaches the cuminal plateau of the Mesas Mountain, passing close to its highest point, at 1256m. From here there are wide views to both Spanish and Portuguese territory. Continuing the crossing of the high part of the mountain, it continues along the border to the South, until it begins the long descent to Fóios, along the western slope. It goes through forested areas made up of pine and oak trees, as well as meadows. 

Mammals

This mosaic is habitat to numerous species of carnivores such as the Wildcat (Felis sylvestris), the Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes), the Genet (Genetta genetta), the Weasel (Martes foina) or the Badger (Meles meles). Once occupied by the threatened Iberian Lynx, we can also find here the Roe Deer (Capreolus capreolus) and the Red Deer (Cervus elaphus).

Birds

Birds are the most easily observed animals, with forest birds such as the Jay (Garrulus glandarius), the Nuthatch (Sitta europaea) and the Iberian Magpie (Cyanopica cooki) – an exclusive species to Portugal and Spain – standing out. However, it is common to see vultures, such as Griffon Vulture (Gyps fulvus) or Black Vulture (Aegypius monachus), flying over the region. On the upper plateaus of the Serra de Mesas, in its characteristic rocky and bushy habitat, we often hear, during spring, the melancholic call of the Ortolan Bunting (Emberiza hortulana), a small granivorous bird.

Reptiles and amphibians

In the running water lines, or on their banks, we can find the Iberian Frog (Rana iberica) and the Schreiber’s Green Lizard (Lacerta schreiberi), two Iberian endemic species. Alongside these, we may come across with the Guadarrama’s Wall Lizard (Podarcis guadarramae), also an Iberian endemic species that prefers stony areas.

Botanical richness

Along the course of The Cradle of the Côa, the landscape is composed of clusters of pyrenean oaks (Quercus pyrenaica), some well-developed chestnut trees (Castanea sativa), scrub and pine forests, interspersed with open areas in the lower areas, usually fresh meadows. This diversity of environments allows the occurrence of a great variety of plants, some of which have a distribution restricted to the Iberian Peninsula, such as the small and apparently fragile Yellow-violet (Viola langeana), the Narcissus rupicola, the Hispidella hispanica, the pink-faced Veronica (Veronica micrantha), the Three Bird Toadflax (Linaria triornithophora), Linaria saxatilis, the White Broom (Cytisus multiflorus), the Echinospartum ibericum, among many others.

Geological heritage

This is one of the most interesting thematics of this trail, since the Mesas Mountain, unlike the mountainous area where it is located, is formed by intrusive Hercynic granites. Here, the rocky outcrops have acquired very diverse forms, but the phenomena of perfect orthogonal fracturing that originated the so called “mesas” (tables) stand out. The different detailed geoforms that can be found here are also noteworthy, such as bolide stones, pedestal blocks, pedunculated blocks, split blocks, sinkholes, cannelures, polygonal fissures, pseudo-stratification, tors and also notable examples of spheroidal meteorization processes.