The Ribeiradio reservoir is located in the middle Vouga river roughly 85 km from the source, about 3 km from Sever do Vouga, between the villages of Ribeiradio and Couto de Esteves. The wall is 76 meters high and creates a reservoir of 136 cubic hectometres at the quota of 110 meters. It stretches for about 14 km along the Vouga river, between the bridge of Cunhe do and Ribeiradio reservoir, going through very enclosed valleys that provide a scenic backdrop of great beauty. The Vouga river begins at Serra da Lapa, about 955 meters high and flows into the Ria de Aveiro, after a journey of approximately 130 km. The water mirror is ideal for water sports such as kayaking or stand up paddle, being today a new element of tourist attraction in the region. In the village of Amiais, integrated in the network of Aldeias de Portugal®, the former community threshing floor was recovered, remembering days gone by where life depended on corn.
On the banks of Ribeiradio reservoir can be seen many plant species of great interest, as pedunculated anarrhinum, primrose, solomon’s seal or the hart’s-tongue. The grey heron, the common kingfisher and the otter are species that easily adapt to changing habitats, so keeping prospering around reservoir waters.With the water mirror, new species adapted to this habitat, some invasive – such as the common carp or the largemouth bass, other indigenous – as the mallard duck, the great cormorant and some common gull species.
During the follow-up work of Ribeiradio hydroelectric venture several archaeological findings were made, most notably traces of human set tlement from the Paleolithic. These communities were fixed in estuaries along the Vouga, as evidenced by the findings at the mouth of Teixeira river, at the mouth of Gaia stream, and at the mouth of the Pontinha brook. So far this type of occupation was unknown on this area, constituting an exceptional case in the Iberian Upper Paleolithic, and the only one in the northwest of Portugal. One of the best deposits is located at the mouth of the Teixeira river (at Rôdo), and has traces of combustion structures, cabin funds and characteristic stone artifacts from the Upper Paleolithic. The excellence of these findings is demon strated by the presence of all whittle phases of the lithic industry: cores, chips, whittle scraps, splinters, plates and scrapers, some of them on display at the Municipal Museum of Sever do Vouga. These findings are attributed to Magdalenian period, between 17,000 and 10,000 B.C., and testify the ancestry of human occupation of these sites.
