Douro and Trás os Montes, Northern Portugal scenic tour

[Pedro]

A few days ago me and Sofia decided to go for a ride along the Douro river, following it all the way from Porto (where it reaches the Atlantic ocean) until the border with Spain a little north of Miranda do Douro where it enters Portugal.

The Douro is the oldest demarcated wine making region in the world, the river and the weather make great grapes. The land is very steep and mountain like, so farmers have been making steps on hills to make use of every single square meter they can get a plant in, this practice makes for unique landscapes. The weather here varies from extreme heat in the summer to freezing cold in the winter, the soil is arid and rocky, which makes for a hard living if you're a farmer. The locals are used to tough conditions and are built like their houses, not big but resilient, they show a hard exterior but as soon as you say hello they're nothing but smiles and hospitality. Portugal is a tiny country, but the high Douro and Trás os Montes are a world apart when compared to the wide open south. 

Trás os Montes is the name of the region that is more or less the most northern eastern square of Portugal, it is translated to "Behind the Hills".

The roads are amazing, I try to keep out of the main ones and if you ride an easy to ride bike you can't go wrong with that, having said that progress can be slow if you stop in a lot of scenic points like we did. On this trip it took us 3 days of leisurely touring to get to somewhere we could easily reach in one day on the same roads, but the point of this trip was to enjoy the region, the roads, the views, the food and wine, and stay in some amazing places taking everything in.

This is my report of it, I'm sure Sofia will join in later with some pictures of her own.

The day started early, by 09:00 we got the only 15km of motorway we would use for the week out of the way and quickly stopped for breakfast on a small bakery by the road, getting into the swing of things and the rhythm of our traveling. Some very nice bread, fresh orange juice and a nice expresso, couldn't resist a second expresso and a little sweet though.

 

We are following the N108 from Porto until Peso da Régua, 5 minutes after breakfast I take us on a detour out of the main road and climb Serra da Boneca, 2 or 300 meters of gravel road lead to the first view point, this is 20 minutes away from busy Porto:

 

 

Back on the road and crossing a village riding down the hill back to the N road, we stop by a beautiful old farm house: 

 

The little "levada" is a tiny irrigation channel built next to the wall all the way down, they carry water through tens of miles that way

 

Next: DRAMA!

A few kms later, and Sofia got a strange feeling of sliding from the back of the Triumph, and then approaching a roundabout it stopped! Looking at it fuel was flowing freely out from under the tank when you hit the starter but stopped with everything off. Clearly a fuel line had come off, but I couldn't see it. The tool kit had lost the allen key that you need to lift the tank and I only carry torx for my bike. It could be a disaster, but spirits were still high. I called a nearby shop and dealer, which I found on google maps being only 5km away, their pictures on google made me confident they were the right place to get anything going. Sofia went to work taking the luggage off.

 

20 minutes later and the Triumph's tow arrived, a little push got it over the ramp that is more used to dirt bikes and in a few minutes we were on the way.

 

Once there the Speed Triple went straight in and they went to work with it. I made myself busy getting out of their face and made a photo report of the shop. It turned out to be a very interesting shop and dealer with some surprising bikes there. This is the heart of dirt bikes in Portugal, the dirt season is coming to an end with the summer dust, lots of quads in for repairs and rebuilds, let me take you on a tour of the place.

 

The shop's garage, all sorts of quads in need of help:

 

An old Sachs V5 with the forks being rebuilt, it's a common daily ride in this parts:

 

Supermoto quad, they race these in karting tracks, some use plated ones to have fun on roundabouts too ...

 

An old CBR600, with a nasty paint job and what must be an incredibly loud exhaust

 

Xstreme Motorsport quad, it's for tiny kids but still smaller than it appears on the picture 

 

DT50 engine being built, it's not going to be a 50cc anymore ...

 

Artwork

 

 

A nicely rebuilt Sachs V5, 5 speeds in a 50cc made this a fast bike in Portugal back when in England you were riding big twins 

Up on the street level we went to have a look at the dealership part of the businesss, and it threw in a few surprises:

Sofia trying out a tiny but impeccable DT50LC, the only pink bike a guy could have. One of the most sold bikes in Portugal over the years.

 

They're here Mawsley, they're in Portugal! Mawsley?

 

Offroad equipment section

 

Kid's bike section, cuteness overload:

 

Big bike section

 

Pete would love this:

 

And an extra big one:

 

And now for special bikes, first a 2 stroke race bike for the local street races

 

Something odd:

 

And two really cool old Harleys

 

A little later and the guilty part was found, the red clip doesn't clip into place anymore, and allows the thing to come out with pressure. They obviously had none in stock so reverted to a little improvisation and a couple of cleverly tightened zip ties now hold the clip from opening.

 

Back on the road after a wash to get all the fuel stains off, which pleased Sofia as the bike was filthy from the previous day's rain getting north.

 

Back on the road, the two hours delay was annoying but all turned into quite a fun experience. 

A quick stop for a snack and  we're back to sightseeing, quick stop in Mesão Frio:

 

We rode straight through Peso da Régua, it was quite busy with tourists and we wanted to make a little time. After Peso da Régua we got out of the N108 but continued on the north bank of the river, heading to Covelinhas and São Leonardo da Galafura via tiny roads. Sofia had been here last year but really hated it, she didn't feel confident after a car running into her in the morning, worn tires, and some other stuff, today with fresh Michelins on, handlebar risers helping the Speed Triple becoming friendlier on these slow speed roads, and what is a really fun tiny road was finally appreciated

 

 

São Leonardo da Galafura is a high view point, it makes for an amazing stop if you bring your lunch with you as there is plenty of cool shade and a breeze.

 

Between Pinhão and Porto, this is a mandatory stop for me:

 

Heading to Pinhão from here you'll start getting proper twisties, some parts with worse surface and not really a place for riding fast on sports bikes, the ocasional gravel right on the middle of a corner making it a little interesting, but a true Douro landscape. We stopped at a famous vineyard to check it out for future trips:

 

From there on we rode straight to the hotel I booked for the night. It was a proper posh place 5km after Pinhão, belonging to an old wine farm and with such amazing views as you roll into the property that we had to stop even though it was properly hot

 

Roses react to mildew before vines do so they serve as an indicator and help treat vines before they're affected, which means that huge amounts of roses are planted all over the place. Someplaces smell amazing even on the bike when riding through.

Picked a few of the few ripe cherries straight from the tree and ate them looking at the scenery before going in

 

 

As I went to park the bikes after check in, this little dude crossed paths with me, he couldn't care less about me:

 

Nothing like a dip in a swimming pool after a hot afternoon on the bike, more so with a view like this:

 

 

After relaxation and cooling down, some cold wine was had, at sunset, before dinner.

 

This was a great ending to a great day, not a lot of kms as one can easily reach where we got by 14:00 starting at 09:00, but that would mean no long scenic stops.

Next chapter, still the Douro river, a little of the Tua river and it's amazing lookout places, and sleeping in an old stone village.

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

A few days ago me and Sofia decided to go for a ride along the Douro river, following it all the way from Porto (where it reaches the Atlantic ocean) until the border with Spain a little north of Miranda do Douro where it enters Portugal.

The Douro is the oldest demarcated wine making region in the world, the river and the weather make great grapes. The land is very steep and mountain like, so farmers have been making steps on hills to make use of every single square meter they can get a plant in, this practice makes for unique landscapes. The weather here varies from extreme heat in the summer to freezing cold in the winter, the soil is arid and rocky, which makes for a hard living if you're a farmer. The locals are used to tough conditions and are built like their houses, not big but resilient, they show a hard exterior but as soon as you say hello they're nothing but smiles and hospitality. Portugal is a tiny country, but the high Douro and Trás os Montes are a world apart when compared to the wide open south. 

Trás os Montes is the name of the region that is more or less the most northern eastern square of Portugal, it is translated to "Behind the Hills".

The roads are amazing, I try to keep out of the main ones and if you ride an easy to ride bike you can't go wrong with that, having said that progress can be slow if you stop in a lot of scenic points like we did. On this trip it took us 3 days of leisurely touring to get to somewhere we could easily reach in one day on the same roads, but the point of this trip was to enjoy the region, the roads, the views, the food and wine, and stay in some amazing places taking everything in.

This is my report of it, I'm sure Sofia will join in later with some pictures of her own.

The day started early, by 09:00 we got the only 15km of motorway we would use for the week out of the way and quickly stopped for breakfast on a small bakery by the road, getting into the swing of things and the rhythm of our traveling. Some very nice bread, fresh orange juice and a nice expresso, couldn't resist a second expresso and a little sweet though.

 

We are following the N108 from Porto until Peso da Régua, 5 minutes after breakfast I take us on a detour out of the main road and climb Serra da Boneca, 2 or 300 meters of gravel road lead to the first view point, this is 20 minutes away from busy Porto:

 

 

Back on the road and crossing a village riding down the hill back to the N road, we stop by a beautiful old farm house: 

 

The little "levada" is a tiny irrigation channel built next to the wall all the way down, they carry water through tens of miles that way

 

Next: DRAMA!

A few kms later, and Sofia got a strange feeling of sliding from the back of the Triumph, and then approaching a roundabout it stopped! Looking at it fuel was flowing freely out from under the tank when you hit the starter but stopped with everything off. Clearly a fuel line had come off, but I couldn't see it. The tool kit had lost the allen key that you need to lift the tank and I only carry torx for my bike. It could be a disaster, but spirits were still high. I called a nearby shop and dealer, which I found on google maps being only 5km away, their pictures on google made me confident they were the right place to get anything going. Sofia went to work taking the luggage off.

 

20 minutes later and the Triumph's tow arrived, a little push got it over the ramp that is more used to dirt bikes and in a few minutes we were on the way.

 

Once there the Speed Triple went straight in and they went to work with it. I made myself busy getting out of their face and made a photo report of the shop. It turned out to be a very interesting shop and dealer with some surprising bikes there. This is the heart of dirt bikes in Portugal, the dirt season is coming to an end with the summer dust, lots of quads in for repairs and rebuilds, let me take you on a tour of the place.

 

The shop's garage, all sorts of quads in need of help:

 

An old Sachs V5 with the forks being rebuilt, it's a common daily ride in this parts:

 

Supermoto quad, they race these in karting tracks, some use plated ones to have fun on roundabouts too ...

 

An old CBR600, with a nasty paint job and what must be an incredibly loud exhaust

 

Xstreme Motorsport quad, it's for tiny kids but still smaller than it appears on the picture 

 

DT50 engine being built, it's not going to be a 50cc anymore ...

 

Artwork

 

 

A nicely rebuilt Sachs V5, 5 speeds in a 50cc made this a fast bike in Portugal back when in England you were riding big twins 

Up on the street level we went to have a look at the dealership part of the businesss, and it threw in a few surprises:

Sofia trying out a tiny but impeccable DT50LC, the only pink bike a guy could have. One of the most sold bikes in Portugal over the years.

 

They're here Mawsley, they're in Portugal! Mawsley?

 

Offroad equipment section

 

Kid's bike section, cuteness overload:

 

Big bike section

 

Pete would love this:

 

And an extra big one:

 

And now for special bikes, first a 2 stroke race bike for the local street races

 

Something odd:

 

And two really cool old Harleys

 

A little later and the guilty part was found, the red clip doesn't clip into place anymore, and allows the thing to come out with pressure. They obviously had none in stock so reverted to a little improvisation and a couple of cleverly tightened zip ties now hold the clip from opening.

 

Back on the road after a wash to get all the fuel stains off, which pleased Sofia as the bike was filthy from the previous day's rain getting north.

 

Back on the road, the two hours delay was annoying but all turned into quite a fun experience. 

A quick stop for a snack and  we're back to sightseeing, quick stop in Mesão Frio:

 

We rode straight through Peso da Régua, it was quite busy with tourists and we wanted to make a little time. After Peso da Régua we got out of the N108 but continued on the north bank of the river, heading to Covelinhas and São Leonardo da Galafura via tiny roads. Sofia had been here last year but really hated it, she didn't feel confident after a car running into her in the morning, worn tires, and some other stuff, today with fresh Michelins on, handlebar risers helping the Speed Triple becoming friendlier on these slow speed roads, and what is a really fun tiny road was finally appreciated

 

 

São Leonardo da Galafura is a high view point, it makes for an amazing stop if you bring your lunch with you as there is plenty of cool shade and a breeze.

 

Between Pinhão and Porto, this is a mandatory stop for me:

 

Heading to Pinhão from here you'll start getting proper twisties, some parts with worse surface and not really a place for riding fast on sports bikes, the ocasional gravel right on the middle of a corner making it a little interesting, but a true Douro landscape. We stopped at a famous vineyard to check it out for future trips:

 

From there on we rode straight to the hotel I booked for the night. It was a proper posh place 5km after Pinhão, belonging to an old wine farm and with such amazing views as you roll into the property that we had to stop even though it was properly hot

 

Roses react to mildew before vines do so they serve as an indicator and help treat vines before they're affected, which means that huge amounts of roses are planted all over the place. Someplaces smell amazing even on the bike when riding through.

Picked a few of the few ripe cherries straight from the tree and ate them looking at the scenery before going in

 

 

As I went to park the bikes after check in, this little dude crossed paths with me, he couldn't care less about me:

 

Nothing like a dip in a swimming pool after a hot afternoon on the bike, more so with a view like this:

 

 

After relaxation and cooling down, some cold wine was had, at sunset, before dinner.

 

This was a great ending to a great day, not a lot of kms as one can easily reach where we got by 14:00 starting at 09:00, but that would mean no long scenic stops.

Next chapter, still the Douro river, a little of the Tua river and it's amazing lookout places, and sleeping in an old stone village.

Brilliant ride report Pedro!

It's got everything....scenery, broken down bikes on recovery vehicles (seems to be a theme this week), classic bikes (love the early GT750......though it's a long way from original) and even top boxes. Big ones too!

You couldn't ask for anything more! 

[Catteeclan]

Excellent you two, enjoyed the shop too.

[yen_powell]

Excellent,

Can you have two motorcycles in a bike of the month picture because that is one? That chiselled landscape is brilliant.

 

 

[XTreme]

30 minutes ago, yen_powell said:

Can you have two motorcycles in a bike of the month picture because that is one? That chiselled landscape is brilliant.

Yes......can't see a problem!

[Pedro]

Thanks guys!

I’ll get the rest of the report done sharpish, might be another two or three nice pictures there too 

[Catteeclan]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

Thanks guys!

I’ll get the rest of the report done sharpish, might be another two or three nice pictures there too 

Showing off now 

[Pedro]

So, second day, we started the day by stopping for fuel and a morning expresso just 5km from where we slept, in Pinhão, while having the needed coffee I noticed the amount of swallows nesting on the building in front of the fuel station. I'm quite happy that Portugal's wildlife seems to be picking up considerably over the last 3 or 4 years. One sees much more birds of all sorts, small animals like rabbits and snakes, and even deer.

 

 

 

Next was another stop for investigating a possible hotel for future tours, also in Pinhão. The parking lot full of GSs made my bike feel a little generic , the Renault 4L reminding we're in oldschool Portugal.

 

 

Just a few kms out of town heading for the Rio Tua via some tiny country roads, Sofia clearly adventuring on the very street oriented Speed Triple, and we stop at Casal de Loivos to look back at Pinhão from a different perspective 

 

It was about 10:30 and already getting a little hot, that day it'd get to 33 or 34º. The tiny unkept old cobblestone streets through the center of Casal de Loivos didn't agree with Sofia, but can't really ask locations to tarmac over 200 year old cobbles, the ones in this picture are brand new and very much straight by comparison. Local vehicles behind show how you water crops high in the hills where there's no water well or access to the river.

 

 

Through some pretty narrow and sometimes very much dust covered cobble farm access roads, we headed to the place where the Tua flows into the Douro

 

Under the old railroad bridge:

 

And onto the Barragem do Tua (Tua's dam), the tunnel to the right of the dam being one of few on the old Tua railroad, this region rich in old railways through very scenic locations. I think this one is now not in use anymore.

 

Over on the other side of that metal railroad bridge in the distance is the Douro.

 

Back on the road we take the N214, a little diversion away from the Douro, a quick stop after some really nice mid speed corners, wide and smooth tarmac to Sofia's content, to reach the Miradouro Olhos do Tua (Eyes of the Tua Lookout) in the small village of Castanheiro,

 

A stop for some work calls and figuring out where to go next in the Sr. da Boa Morte Chapel and lookout, right next to the previous place in the same village.

 

 

After a while, a course was set and we met back with the Douro, crossed over the Barragem da Valeira below back onto the south bank

 

 

Crossing over to the other side, we're near São João da Pesqueira, to climb all the way up a chapel located on top of a special viewpoint, Mirador de São Salvador do Mundo has quite an epic name to it, and the place impresses by how old it feels, in English it's translated to Saint Savior of the World Lookout. It was hot and I really didn't feel like walking up the 100 meters we had to, but Sofia had never been there and I it's worth it. Last time the gate was open and I rode all the way up.

 

 

 

On that green metal door rested the fattest gecko I've ever seen

 

We tried to follow right next to the river on a tiny road but it somehow went into a farm and through it. It felt like it could be turning into something not pleasant to ride on the Triumph so I went ahead to scout. Sure enough the bumpy cobblestones turned to a soft dirt road, going quite uphill. I turned back and we went a different way. Turning back down this was the view

 

We rode through one of the many half abandoned villages and rejoined the N222, a scenic road up here, many bikers follow it all the way to Porto but doing so lose the best of what you can see, this one taken on an unassuming M541 

 

It was quite hot by now, and by 17:00 we reached our destination for the night. Being mostly self catered, we stopped on a country grocery shop to buy some wine, meat and a couple of vegetables.

Murça is a small village with plenty of life in it, but a few of abandoned traditional homes. Some of those were bought up and converted into tourist lodging. I was quick to settle and jump into the cold swimming pool, nothing like jumping into cold water to freshen up and revive after a few hours facing the heat on a bike.

Feeling fresh and happy, it was time to have our cold wine on the freezer and that the lovely Sonia baked some fresh bread for us. Sofia can do without some stuff but bread isn't one 

After cooling down, even the tortuously bumpy stone road looked better:

 

We settled into a little corner of paradise and I got to work on the coal to fire up the BBQ.

 

 

Cold Douro wine, some nice cheese, and Trás os Montes olive oil to dip bread in, that's a way to start a meal:

 

Some pork and onions were thrown onto the coals, it helped smoke out the mosquitoes too

 

 

Fed and watered, we went on a little walk, let me take you through Murça at 21:00...

 

Mosquitoes were out in force, so we retreated inside, and sat on quite an unconfortable sofa to watch some 80s tv. Sleep was had in not the comfiest of beds too, but in utter silence, the north was treating us well. 

[Catteeclan]

You were right about the pics and you ain't finished yet ya bugga.

Is Sofia always smiling, good girl.

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

this region rich in old railways through very scenic locations. I think this one is now not in use anymore.

You're going to have to check those out sometime Pedro!

[Sofia]

Some photos of Pedro doing Pedro things! 

[XTreme]

7 minutes ago, Sofia said:

Some photos of Pedro doing Pedro things! 

No photos of Pedro taking a piss?

[Skippy]

Fantastic report @Pedro

[yen_powell]

18 minutes ago, XTreme said:

No photos of Pedro taking a piss?

Possibly here, he has the same look on his face that I do when secretly piddling in the shallow end.

[Pedro]

1 hour ago, yen_powell said:

Possibly here, he has the same look on his face that I do when secretly piddling in the shallow end.

I haven’t done that since I learned about swimming pools having pee colorant detectors!

[Pedro]

1 hour ago, XTreme said:

No photos of Pedro taking a piss?

There might be, I haven’t taken any though, no need for that in such a nice family friendly ride report 

[Pedro]

Waking up in Murça felt great, breakfast wasn't until 9AM so had plenty of time to get the stuff packed and cases on the bike like I like to do.

Here is a little short clip of our balcony at 09:20, just before setting off, proper countryside soundtrack:

 

Quick set off on the little N324 and we reached Mós quite quick, it's only a handful of kms till we saw the first viewpoint of the day at one of the many Saint Barbara Chapels, it was on top of a dirt road so instead of punishing the Speed Triple Sofia opted to ride on the back of my bike up there. Considering the terrain, it proved to be the right choice, too. The view from the top:

 

A bush or tree growing on a split rock, I love stuff like this.

 

We took our time there, I had an incredibly scenic piss and we carried on, took the M614 and shortly after we reached Pocinho. There was need for an expresso so the plan was to stop, but I got enchanted by the old train station and we took some pictures. The train still works using a more modern small building, but these two big wooden warehouses were from a time long gone when this region used to send most of its produce by train to Porto, mostly grapes and wine. They made for an interesting 20 minutes looking around

 

Lots of flowers everywhere, you got to love the Douro!  :

So we stopped for a coffee with a view to the train station

 

Half way through my cold water, I heard a diesel engine running on the line and ran over the street for a quick video, just for Pete, the train spotter:

 

After Pocinho, I got on one of my favourite stretches of road, basically you go on a map and find find Poucinho or Vila Nova de Foz Coa, and get on the road following the river inwards into the general direction of Freixo de Espada à Cinta.

We rode for a few kms before another stop, Sofia started getting a surge of calls and decided to stop in the shade to answer them. I kept myself occupied with taking a few pictures of a small High Douro village, "Peredo dos Castelhanos":

 

Below, typical village scene, a 50kg Serra da Estrela shepherd dog comes home for lunch after giving me a friendly but still intimidating sideways look:

 

And again we rode on, we didn't stop much for pictures of the road since Sofia was having such fun and I had already documented it in a previous trip, we rode to Freixo de Espada à Cinta, heading straight to Penedo Durão viewpoint for a snack. Penedo Durão is my favourite view in the whole of Portugal except for Sagres, there's a 900 meter drop to the river, with the spanish altiplano on the other side. Spain clearly the least favoured side of the river, as in other things.... 

We had a nice leftover bbq sandwich while looking at the Vultures and the Griffons and the hawks, I can spend hours there:

 

A black vulture can go almost to 2,5 meters wing span, you can see it in the crappy iPhone picture below, just open it in your browser and zoom a little, it's an awe inspiring sight:

 

As far as picnic locations go, it's hard to beat:

 

I got soft, after a light lunch I started looking at the vultures and other birds, it was a surprise heat wave and approaching 36 or 37º. We stopped at Freixo de Espada à Cinta (Ash with a Sword tied to the Waist, LOL) for Speed Triple fuel, these inferior bikes have to fuel up everyday while mine is like a camel and can hold fuel for over a day's riding, anyways... as Sofia was fueling up her bike I moaned about it being hot and feeling like a stop in our friend Manuela's Inn for a dip in the pool and a nice dinner. It didn't take much convincing and I called in, after 5 minutes we were stopped for the day, bikes parked in the shade and me beelining to the pool:

 

Is this hardcore motorcycling? No! Is this serious motorcycling? No! We did about 65 or 75 km that day, if that! It was properly enjoying the day!

Before dinner and after a cold bottle of water and some nice orange juice and a nice soaking in the pool overlooking the Douro, we had a shower and I convinced myself it would be good to go for a walk to build up an apetite. I regretted as it's a hilly area and it was properly hot, regardless, here's a couple of pictures from our walk in Freixo de Espada à Cinta...

 

 

 

We came back early, downed a bottle of cold water, and then had a bottle of Manuela's own production white wine, which is amazing, alongwith a nice dinner:

 

It was a very short distance ridden that day, but high enjoyment and content. The next day would see more distance and more "Portugal", will post that tomorrow, maybe...

[Pedro]

Quick note to @Skippy:

Ray, there's a lot of places called Murça in Portugal, look to Mós and then the Murça next to it. Hit me up if you're in doubt.

[XTreme]

9 hours ago, Pedro said:

There might be, I haven’t taken any though, no need for that in such a nice family friendly ride report 

What are the two red marks on your arms Pedro?

[Pedro]

54 minutes ago, XTreme said:

What are the two red marks on your arms Pedro?

Psoriasis 

[XTreme]

1 hour ago, Pedro said:

Psoriasis 

At first it looked like tattoo removal......but then I thought there was no way you'd have had tattoos!

[Pedro]

Just now, XTreme said:

At first it looked like tattoo removal......but then I thought there was no way you'd have had tattoos!

Once, in Brazil, very drunkenly almost got one. Luckily my girlfriend at the time asked me not to. 

people sometimes assume I fell off the bike and it’s roadrash

 

[XTreme]

23 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Once, in Brazil, very drunkenly almost got one. Luckily my girlfriend at the time asked me not to. 

people sometimes assume I fell off the bike and it’s roadrash

 

My Mange beats your Psoriasis though! 

[Pedro]

6 minutes ago, XTreme said:

My Mange beats your Psoriasis though! 

So you win? 

[Pedro]

Continuing, we woke up to a warm morning in Freixo de Espada à Cinta, stopped by the local pharmacy for some chapstick, I wanted to get some more potent anti histaminic nasal spray but there's nothing stronger than what I got. One thing that bothered me a bit over the previous days were my polen allergies, whenever we went near blooming olive trees or some kinds of fields it hits hard.

20 or 30 minutes North of where we started, along the N221, we take a detour to Mazouco, and ride down to the riverside to check something quite special.

After a short walk down a narrow path leading right next to the water, we find the Cavalo de Mazouco. The engraving of this horse, or probably mare, is probably Europe's oldest open air art work. It's over 10.000 years old and only really noticed by the general public in the 70s. Back then the water level was lower, too.

 

Quite the view, at the little horse's place

 

 

After a few minutes taking in the sights, with the grey overcast skies kind of ruining the pictures, we made way north, again another 20 or 30 minutes to another view point via back roads:

 

After a km or so of nice smooth dirt road, we reach one of the highlights of the trip, the Carrascalinhos Viewpoint at Fornos. It was impressive both for it's views over the river, but more so because of the number of Vultures and Griffons we saw, never had I seen so many in one place. At over 2 meters wingspan they are impressive when they fly near you. The shadow they cast is like one of a small airplane, we stayed for a while. My phone doesn't make them justice, but here it goes anyway.

 

Being sat on a rock for a while, bugs almost instantly started crawling over me, like this weirdly colored beetle and a tiny caterpillar that was put back onto some vegetation.

 

Next to Penedo Durão, the viewpoint of Carrascalinho is the other obligatory stop if you're passing by this area. The N221 from Miranda do Douro all the way to Barca de Alva a must, with all it's little detours.

 

We headed north yet again, getting out of the more hilly Douro and towards a more typical Trás os Montes landscape, a hilly Altiplano with huge rocks thrown all over the place.

 

Another stop at Bemposta, this time for lunch. We had a little look over the viewpoint, surrounded by houses appearing to be older than time, and stopped at a local café. I wanted Sofia to be amongst the locals so we went somewhere with a few construction trucks parked in front, the accent they speak with here is incredibly different to what Sofia is used to in the Lisbon area it's funny. In fact, Miranda do Douro has it's own language, called Mirandês, with it 's own vocabulary and taught as a second language in the area. In some villages, it is still a first language amongst older people.

 

Hearty portions in this part of the country, I went inside to order and the girl was a little shocked that both of us would share a portion. I have no pictures of said food, but we left with a full stomach. Had a few laughs with the guys there, and were ready for a full afternoon. 

Half an hour of riding, and another stop, this time at the preserved village of Picote. The place has been meticulously restored and was a pleasure to walk through, even the fields' entries were nice, this didn't really feel like Portugal as it's usually a bit rougher. A great place to see and maybe next time a sleepover location. It was getting proper hot though, at maybe 33 or 35º.

 

Quite fun to see all the signs in Mirandês instead of Portuguese.

 

 

Eventually, we rode off and arrived at Miranda do Douro, parked in the old town next to a shiny scooter and went to buy some souvenirs. Miranda do Douro is a lovely place, I shall stay longer next time.

 

From Miranda do Douro we went to Paradela, just a 15 or 20 minute ride but it's the place where the river enters Portugal, we went and visited the northernmost place in this trip. Getting there it was proper hot, so stopped for an icecream, some water and a coffee at a local country style café. Sofia made a sensation with the café owner and her mother. They have family everywhere, near where I'm from, where Sofia lives, all over Portugal, and took great pride in showing off her husband's ZZR1100 on top of which they went to France and toured around a few years ago. Northern hospitality:

 

We left the Speed Triple behind and rode the 4 or 5km dirt road to the last Douro lookout on the GS. It was quite hot and dusty, the loose gravel wouldn't have been much fun on the Triumph.

 

A nice place to visit. The dam in the picture above is still in the spanish side, flowing over a trickle of water it might or might not be one of the reasons much of the north is in a draught currently. 

We said goodbye to the border and rode heading to Alfandega da Fé. The weather was quite hot but threatening to rain, progress now was faster and the roads allowed a constant speed over 100kmh to be easily done.

Quick stop to take a picture of an ancient harvester, just casually parked in the middle of a field:

 

A quick stop in Vimioso to figure out where to sleep, and realize the landscape had changed dramatically in only a few kms

 

We rode into Morais at around 19:00 I think, after a long day of short rides and amazing scenery. The surprise heat wave made it a little harder than it had to be, but all was cool. Morais is a tiny town and we were to sleep in a small place, the owner showed up to get paid for the room and left us to ourselves, being the only guests and breakfast available on the café across the street we should just close the door behind us in the morning. The bikes splept outside and the big GS made sure the Triumph couldn't be messed with. 

A little walk around before dinner looking for an ATM, revealed Sr. Morais' old house, the town founder long gone and his place is left there waiting for someone to do something with it.

 

We had dinner in a small bbq place, inside as the mosquitoes were relentless outside. 

 

We stayed in and drank cold wine and chatted almost till they were ready to close up. 11PM in Morais on a weekday, nothing really goes on:

 

After a nice day with amazing scenery, a tasty dinner, we slept soundly.