Serra da Lousã (Coimbra)

It is a mountain range that unites in a unique way the cultural and human side of the Schist Villages, with the nature and possibilities of leisure that its landscape provides. It is home to deer, wild boars, and bucks that lurk among cork oaks, chestnut trees, oaks and, of course, pine trees. It is crossed by numerous pedestrian/mountain biking trails and paths leading to St. António da Neve, Alto do Trevim, Lousã Castle or Senhora da Piedade … not forgetting the river beaches.

The Serra da Lousã, together with the Serra do Açor and Serra da Estrela, form the most imposing of the mountainous alignments of Portugal: the Cordillera Central. The Serra da Lousã constitutes the southwest end of this mountain range. Being fundamentally schist and pre-Cambrian, it is therefore geologically very ancient. These mountains also separate the watersheds of Mondego and Tagus. The Serra da Lousã covers the counties of Lousã, Góis, Castanheira de Pêra, Miranda do Corvo and Figueiró dos Vinhos.

It presents steep slopes to the almost flatlands that extend to the northwest. It is deeply furrowed by the water lines, of which the Ribeira de Pena to the north, the Ribeira de S. João to the northwest, the Ribeira de Pera and the Ribeira de Alge to the south stand out. To this stands the quartzite crest of the Penedos de Góis. But its highest point is the Alto do Trevim at 1204 m.

On the paths of their forests, the deer cross with us or make their roar of heat away. The buck also here occurs, but it is more difficult to observe. Where the autumn has the shades of deciduous trees. The flowers of the undergrowth turn into honey.