Vala do Carregado

Vala do Carregado is a small locality in the municipality of Alenquer, in the Lisbon district, situated on the Tagus floodplain near the town of Carregado. The name vala means drainage ditch or canal, referring to the network of irrigation and drainage channels that have long structured the agricultural use of this low-lying terrain.

The surrounding landscape is flat, open, and intensively farmed, with vegetables, cereals, and fodder crops growing on the rich alluvial soils. The canal network is a defining visual element of the local terrain.

On the Camino Português, Vala do Carregado is a passage point in the flat Ribatejo section between Lisbon and Santarém, where the route crosses the managed agricultural plain of the lower Tagus valley.