Paúl da Serra

Paúl da Serra is an anomaly on an island that is otherwise all ridge and ravine: a broad flat plateau at around 1,400 to 1,500 metres in the west, roughly twenty-four square kilometres of open moorland with heather, grass and no trees, rising to 1,640 metres at Pico do Paul, grazed by cattle and sheep that wander onto the road. It is the island's main water catchment - rain and fog drip feed the aquifer that supplies the levada system - and it carries a wind farm. Because it sits at the altitude where the trade-wind cloud layer forms, it is fogged in a great deal of the time, sometimes to a few metres, and the roads across it are genuinely dangerous in those conditions. On the rare clear day it is a wide open landscape with views to both coasts and the central peaks. The Rabaçal and Fanal trailheads are on its edges.

The landscape

• The plateau - twenty-four square kilometres of flat treeless moorland at 1,400 metres.
• The catchment - the fog-fed source of the levada water system.
• The livestock - cattle and sheep grazing loose, including on the road.
• The wind farm - turbines strung across the open ground.

When to go

Year-round; summer offers the best chance of clear conditions, though fog can arrive at any time. One to three hours crossing it, with stops.

Practical notes

Fog reduces visibility to a few metres regularly and driving becomes dangerous - do not cross in thick cloud. Cattle on the road are a real hazard. Cold and windy even in summer. There are no facilities on the plateau.

Nearby

Fanal is on the north-western rim; the Rabaçal and 25 Fontes trailhead is on the western edge.

Key facts