Espigueiros de Soajo

Espigueiros are granaries built to store and dry maize: rectangular boxes of granite slabs raised on stone legs with mushroom-shaped caps to stop rodents climbing, slotted sides to let air through, and a cross on the gable. Almost every village in the Minho has some; Soajo's are unusual because there are around two dozen of them standing together on a bare granite outcrop at the edge of the village, on the communal threshing floor, which makes a group that looks from a distance like a small stone necropolis. Most date from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, though the form is much older, and a number are still in use. Soajo sits inside Peneda-Gerês at around eight hundred metres, keeps a system of communal land and herding, and has a pillory in the square. Lindoso, across the valley, has a comparable group beside its castle.

What you actually see

• The group - around two dozen granite granaries together on a threshing outcrop.
• The construction - slab boxes on stone legs with rodent caps and slotted sides.
• The continued use - a number still storing maize for village households.
• The setting - Soajo at around eight hundred metres inside Peneda-Gerês.

When to go

April to October; winters here are cold and wet. Thirty to sixty minutes at the granaries; longer for the village and the surrounding trails.

Honest expectations

It is one small site - half an hour covers it. The outcrop is bare granite, uneven and slippery when wet. The granaries are private property still in use; do not climb on them. Parking in the village is limited.

Nearby

Lindoso and its castle-side granaries are across the valley; Sistelo is west.