Trip to Santa Justa Path to Fojo - Valongo | Portugal

Today we are back on familiar paths, those that remind us of childhood, and in these last times of contention when it is suggested that we keep our social distance, this is where i choose to come when it comes to leaving home.
It is still possible for us to go out to do some activities, such as exercising, going to the supermarket or pharmacy, taking the pet for a walk or even taking the children for a little walk to get air and not to atrophy the senses, turns out to be a mix of pedagogical output and liberation.

My outings include the first and the last reason, to exercise and take the child out to get some air.
In these paths that cross in the Santa Justa mountain range in Valongo we have found the freedom that, in communion with social distance, provide us with moments that allow us to maintain mental health, physical condition and renew energy to endure a few more days of protection.

It is in the street of Ivanta that I park the car and in an instant we enter the forest through the path that i presented in the last post, but this time we entered by the south side, directly to a small clearing where we played as a child.
Even today it is possible to see the small field where we played football, which in the past seemed huge and today is just a small piece of land on a higher level filled with herbs that hide the floor, and it was through these herbs that i crossed to the rocks where formed the small ponds where we refreshed ourselves after each game, and what was my surprise when i saw that the small ponds are still there, there were even those who built a small wall that works as a dam to collect a larger volume of water so that some hoses can take advantage of the water to water the fields.

I went up and through erased paths that remain in my memory and i went to my wife and daughter who had been playing on one of the lower levels and suggested that we go up towards the famous Fojo da Pombas where some of the old Roman mines are located, and we go up through a trail that today is used by mountain biking lovers, who start the circuit at the top of the mountain next to the small Chapel of Santa Justa and enjoy the entire descent through this circuit that crosses the entire forest and ends at the beginning of that path that i shared it as one of the paths of Santa Justa sierra.

Along the way it is possible to see marks that show the passage of the bikes as well as some ramps that allow you to cross paths and continue on the descent circuit.
We are now in Fojo das Pombas, but i will choose to dedicate an exclusive post to this magical place where there were endless events that marked me for the most varied reasons, from risky games that could have ended in a tragic way, to very well spent afternoons,on a blanket next to a arbutus tree, flirting and making some short films… finally

One of the reasons for not addressing this space at the top of this post is that, on the way, I ran out of battery in the camera and it was up to me to take the rest of the photos with my phone and i just don't like the result, so i will have to do the herculan effort to return there to make some records again… but I still share here some photos of the surrounding vegetation of that space without showing the crown jewel: P
From there it was no time to resume the base and we started the descent along the same path and down here next to the small football field, i took some more pictures and from there we went to the car to go and close ourselves at home.
These are dark times that we all hope will pass quickly.

That´s all for today :)

See you soon

Thank you for watching :)

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