Looking to change up our hiking trails to see some different scenery from the coast, we headed inland to do a fairly easy hike in the woods, PRC08 TER - Relheiras de São Brás. Since we rented a car on Ilha Terceira we headed northeast out of Angra do Heroísmo towards the rural village of Ladeira do Cardoso and the trailhead. This is part of the network of trails in the Azores, hence the name PRC08 TER, and wanders through beautiful Japanese Cedar forests, along a small stream with a little waterfall, and over local dirt roads next to farms. The trail also has some interpretive signs explaining the history of the area, and as you walk you can see the cart ruts worn into the rock.
I loved the contrast of the paddock walls built with dark volcanic rock against the grassy fields and the bright, foggy sky. The weather changes every 5 minutes in the Azores so as we stood there the clouds moved in over the fields making for a very dramatic scene. One of the most amazing things I found with the Azores was how much was built using the volcanic rock. It makes sense of course, it is the most plentiful building material, but the sheer scale of the construction was amazing. These hand-built walls were everywhere on the islands, there must be hundreds of kilometres of them, a real testament to the toughness and resiliency of the people who settled there.
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