About Cascata da Cabreia
Cascata da Cabreia is a quaint waterfall within a forested setting within the Sever do Vouga Municipality near the town of Silva Escura (or “dark silver”).
The waterfall was where the Rio Mau (or Rio Bom) dropped a reported 25m as it tumbled and flowed between some mills that are no longer in use.
Interestingly, I noticed the name change in the river from Rio Bom to Rio Mau on my Gaia GPS app, and it made me curious as to why the river went from “good” (bom) to “bad” (mau).
Apparently, it was said that the Cascata da Cabreia waterfall was where the river was essentially called “bad” by a parish priest from the town of Silva Escura in 1732.
Perhaps he was influenced by stories of how the Rio Bom became Rio Mau due to accidents that happened to people working the water mills (of which we saw some by the waterfall itself).
Yet the waters of the Rio Mau were also used in irrigation as well as the Braçal Mining Complex, which was said to be Portugal’s first mining concession (and perhaps why the neighboring town was called Silva Escura).
In any case, accessing this waterfall felt more like a family-friendly excursion than a hike because we only walked about 250-300m from the nearest trailhead to get to the waterfall.
Along the way, there were lots of picnic tables situated in flattened out terraces as the trail made a moderately steep descent down to the Rio Mau.
Then, the trail went briefly upstream towards the Cascata da Cabreia while passing by an intermediate waterfall from a tributary feeding the river beneath a bridge off to the right.
I didn’t spend extra time to explore where the other trails deviating away from the waterfall went so I can’t comment more on those paths.
However, just being in front of the Cascata da Cabreia and its neighboring mills made for a satisfying experience.
Inside some of the mills, I could see grinding stones as apparently the power of the river had been used to grind millet or flour.
Overall, we spent about 50 minutes away from the car, encompassing the roughly 300m walk (600m round-trip) and the time spent lingering around the mills and the waterfall.
Authorities
The Cascata da Cabreia is near the town of Silva Escura in Sever do Vouga Municipality of the Aveiro District of the Norte Region of Portugal. It’s not clear to me who administers the waterfall, but it seems like the authorities of Sever do Vouga have a big role in it. For information or inquiries about the area as well as current conditions, you can try visiting the Sever do Vouga website.
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