Both of these walks start in the pretty village of Alcongosta. Normally, a typically quiet, Portuguese village, but if you are here for the Cherry festival in June you will see it come alive. A lovely day can be spent having an energetic hike in the morning, and then spending the rest of the day at the festa, trying out the multitude of pop-up bars and food places and enjoying some traditional music and dancing.

As well as cherries, there is a variety of fruit grown on these green slopes of the Gardunhas around Fundão. These walks take you through some of the orchards and fruit farms that cover these hills.

In spring, the hills are covered in blossom from all the fruit trees, ranging in colour from white to deep, deep pink. In summer, they are green and much cooler than the open plains, with plentiful shade, and occasional trickling streams. In autumn the colour palette changes to sunset colours of golds, yellows and reds. This is when the fallen chestnuts litter the paths and provide an enjoyable snack for later next to a wood burning fire.

The walks also take in some pine plantations and open scrubland with all the associated wildlife, as you make your way along the slopes. They both involve some steep up and down sections, but the views stretching from Fundão and Covilha as far as the Serra do Estrelas, are well worth the extra effort.

The walk goes through orchards, and pine plantations, like the other 2 walks, but is very much straight up, and then straight down! The goal is the viewpoint that rises out of the chestnut plantation, and gives a spectacular vista over Fundão, Corvilha and the Serra do Estrela.

Time this right and you will be walking through a cloud of blossom or an autumn fall of leaves and chestnuts. It is always different, but the views are always spectacular!