Out and about on foot at almond blossom time
Monchique Mountain Marathon 2017

How far can we still travel using our own bodies and on our own feet? Monchique Mountain Marathon 2017 is an offer to take you on several different guided walks and hikes. Between Christmas and the New Year, you can discover the Algarve uplands on twelve paths, some longer some shorter. Being out and about on foot opens up a unique opportunity to get to know Monchique with your own senses: the natural surroundings of the mountains with its streams, mills and waterfalls, the ancient forests of cork oaks and chestnut trees; the culture of regional music, local dishes and specialities ranging from bread, ham and chouriço to local varieties of fruit, desserts and cakes. In the process, craftspeople producing items made of leather (shoes), wood (Roman scissor chairs) and clay (vases) will be visited, along with a medronho distillery and an olive oil mill. Between Wednesday, 27th December and Friday 29th December, MMM 2017 offers you genuine insights into the upland regions of the Algarve on twelve unique walks between six and 25 km in length…

Marathon

On Saturday, 30th December, the magazine ECO123 is organising the Monchique Mountain Marathon over a distance of 42.6 kilometres. The circular hike starts in Caldas de Monchique and leads through the parishes of Alferce, Monchique and Marmelete, over the two peaks Picota (776m) and Fóia (902m), and back to Caldas.
Along the way, all the participants will be provided with hot and cold drinks, snacks and soups among other things at seven stations. At the Fóia Adventure Park, there will be archery and brain-teasers on the region’s flora & fauna. Here, all participants can immortalise themselves in a symbolic tree-planting. At the end of the marathon, the winners will receive gift baskets with local products worth 1,000 euros.

Financial profits from MMM 2017 will be invested by the organisers in the maintenance of local footpaths and reforestation with oak and chestnut trees
and other indigenous species.