Distance: 100 km Total Ascent: 874 metres
Another glorious day of rural landscapes, storks, horses, olive groves and cork trees.
The White Storks are prolific around here, building their nests on any available tall structure.
The breeding season lasts for about 1 month, starting around April. There are usually 3-5 eggs in each nest and both parents share incubation duty.
The storks will migrate south to Africa for the winter around September.
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Portugal is renowned for its Lusitano horses and the Alentejo region is one of the top breeding centres. These horses are higher prized for their temperament and excellent agility for all types of equestrian activities.
Olive groves are gradually giving way to cork trees. But it is interesting to see the varied olive plantings. There are the older, majestic groves with the trees spaced widely. Then there are the newer plantings where the trees are much closer – so they almost form hedges after pruning and are more suitable for mechanized harvesting.
The Cork Oaks are definitely ‘slow farming’. It takes near 25 years for a cork oak trunk to start to produce cork and be profitable. Each trunk has to reach a circumference of about 70 cm when measured 1.3 metres above ground level before it can be harvested.
First harvest is known as ‘desbóia’ and the virgin cork extracted is not great quality so it is used for flooring and insulation etc.
The second harvest 9 years later is still not suitable for cork stoppers.
The second harvest 9 years later is still not suitable for cork stoppers.
It is not until ‘ amadia‘, the third harvest, that the tree will supply good quality cork and will continue to do so every nine years for around a century and a half, producing, on average, 15 bark harvests throughout its life.
2 thoughts on “Day 27 – Évora to Crato”
Yes quite a surreal experience when you come across your first cork plantation. Our path, years back, went straight through one.
But I think the old style olive plantations are more majestic and attractive
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