Rota da Água, Pedras Brancas - São Miguel PR41 SMI

This linear route connects the village of Ribeira Chã to Água de Pau. Begin the trail at the center of the locality, known for its museums, mainly the Sacred Art and Ethnographic, the Ethnographic Yard and Azorean Endemism as well as the Rural House of Maria dos Anjos Melo, where we can see all the history, culture and heritage of this place. Rich for its gastronomy, Ribeira Chã is known for its Italian Arum cereal flour porridge, a typical sweet of the village, done with the rhizome of the plant known on the island as Italian Arum (Arum italicum).

Go up the road that crosses the locality, passing above the fast track and ahead, following left by a dirt road that access pastures and agricultural fields. Continue along the road until you find the crossroad with PR 42 SMI – Rota da Água, entre Túneis e Condutas, where you should follow on your left. At this point, if you choose to go right, you will be heading towards the place of Remédios. From this point, the path continues among a wood formed mainly by Australian cheesewood (Pittosporum undulatum), Japanese cedar (Crytomeria japonica) and some Tree ferns (Cyathea cooperi).

At this descending stage of the trail, you will pass by a trachyte vertical wall known locally as Pedras Brancas (White Stones), where it is usual the practice of climbing and rappel. The path continues inside the wood until it reaches a tarmac road, where you should proceed very carefully, turning left on a dirt road accessing pastures and agricultural fields. Arriving to the base of the fast track, choose to go to your left hand side and follow the marks until the interior of the village of Água de Pau, place where the trail ends. It is possible to visit the Chapel of Nossa Senhora do Monte Santo (built in 1931), where the Blessed Virgin made an apparition to a local girl.

If weather allows it, visit the geosite of Fajã lávica (lava stone) and the fossil cliff of Caloura, where it is possible to have a bath at Ponta da Galera, the southernmost point of the island or in the beautiful fishing harbor of Caloura.