2017 Hikes Sao Miguel Lagoa das Furnas

Wednesday 9th August 2017 drove in Ana & Joao's car to Furnas arriving there at around 1300 hrs. We parked the car at the Poca da Donna Beija

where Jeannette spent the day in the thermal (39C) pools

Mike, with the aid of the Viewranger Map App, found a route to join the PRC22SMI TRAIL TO pico do Ferro

The route joins the main road for a short distance then turns up this side road

then up this trail

Which eventually joins the PRC22SMI trail to Pico do Ferro

Occassional glimpses of the Lagoa das Furnas

Climbing steeply but mainly in the shade

Several fallen trees

Eventually reaching the Pico do Ferro mirador

which gave superb views of the Furnas town 

and, of course, the Lagoa das Furnas

There are two options for the return route, I chose the shortest, partly as it was starting to rain

The trail follows the caldera ridge for a short while

Then meanders through some grassy slopes

before starting its descent zizagging down through the forest of mainly Japonese Cedar

with occassional views of the lake

Eventually passed the Casa da Grená

The Casa da Grená was a summer house constructed by a Mr Vines, the English Consul-General at Ponta Delgada, in 1855.  He named the house Grená in honour of his wife's familial relations: his spouse was the niece of Daniel O´Connell (who organized the Catholic movement in Ireland) and stayed at their Irish relatives' home, also called Grená. (This info is from Wikipedia)

Japonese Cedars

a wood carving

Reached the PRC6SMI trail which circumnavigates the lake.

Past the fumeroles which restuarants use to slow cook meals

Lagoa das Furnas

Looking up to the Pico do Ferro mirador

Arrived back at the car at 17.13hrs ( made a navigational error on the return to the car - did not recognise the turn off and ended up making an unnecessary loop through the town of Furnas).

Total distance 8.3 km in 4hrs 8 mins, max elevation 544m, minimum elevation 205m, climbed 339m.

After collecting Jeannette at the thermal pools, we drove to the pretty little port of Caloura

Where we had supper (inside as it was very windy and cold on the terrace)

Manuel & Leticia had brought us here a few weeks ago - very special place and restuarant

Boca Negro and Tuna followed by grande desert of cheese cake, honey tart and vanilla icecream - yummy!

Then drove back to a rolly Dutch Link in the Ponta Delgada marina after having had a superb day out.

Hike Sao Miguel Lagoa das Furnas 28 July 2016

Took the 0900 hrs bus nr 318 from close to the Ponta Delgada Marina. 

 

Got off the bus at 1020hrs at the side of the Lagoa das Furnas just before the bus turns right to the town of Furnas.

 

The map below shows the hiking routes we followed as a yellow line. 

First we walked anticlockwise round the northern end of the lake to the fumerols. Then steeply up the PRC22SMI to the Miradouro do Pico do Ferro, returning to the main route , PRC6SMI, via a not very well marked shortcut, then continue anticlockwise around the lake following the PRC6SMI which eventually follows  one of the roads to the town of Furnas.

 

Lagoa das Furnas

 

Furnas and its lake are in a huge volcanic caldeira which still has signs of volcanic activity. There are many Fumerols in the caldeira and places where ther surface water is boiling. 

The area in the below photo is on the north side of the lake and has many fumerols

 

Various restuarants in Furnas use the fumerols to (slow - about 2 hours) cook meals for their guests in pots placed in holes in the ground  and covered with a small pile of earth - each spot is labelled by the restuarant 

 

Boiling water

 

Relaxing in some carved rocking chairs

 

 

The PR22SMI route to the Mirador Pico do Ferro

 

Many Ginger Lillies line the route

 

Climbing steeply through the forest, sometimes under fallen trees

 

Japonese Red Cedars

 

 

Views of Furnas town from the Mirador Pico do Ferro

 

Views of Lagoa das Furnas from the Mirador Pico do Ferro

 

 

Information board at the Mirador Pico do Ferro

 

The not-well-defined shortcut back to the main route around the lake

 

 

Super spot for our picnic lunch on our steep descent to the lake

 

 

Abandoned hunting lodge?

 

Back on the route around the lake

 

 

 

 

Several woodcarvings by Emmanual Courtot carved during a woodcarving event in August 2012

 

Very tall trees

 

Araucarias Tree - one of the tallest in the world

 

Couldn't resist having a swing in the hammock

 

Very modern Information/ research center where we watched a short film about the area here and the project to return the lake to its original healthy condition. It seems that the intense dairy farming around the lake has resulted in the water having too high a bacterial content. This is being resolved by agreements with the farmers not to graze their cattle on the pastures around the lake.

 

Church on the south side of the lake

 

 

Another fumerol

 

 

Here we left the shores of the lake and joined the road which took us steeply up to the Pico do Milho mirador from where there were good views of the town of Furnas and the surrounding countryside

 

Some of the many Montbrecia saw en route

 

View of Furnas from the Pico do Milho Mirador above the town

 

Arrived in Furnas town around 1600 hrs and walked to the Parque Terra Nostra where there is a swimming pool fed by hot natural springs and a botanical gardin. As there was an entrance fee for this and we did nt have much time before the bus left, we did not explore further.

Caught the nr 110 bus at 1710 hrs to Ponta Delgada via the northern coast - had to change buses in Ribeiro Grande ( the buses link up and park next to each other, so this was not an issue).

A very interesting and pleasant day.

Once back in Ponta Delgada, we had a pizza at the Donatela Pizza café.