Pedro's little ride around Portugal

[Pedro]

So, day one:

 

Day one started late, because yesterday I had a great dinner, me and little bro had too much wine and things got silly

 

Today, got up at about 9, by 10 Costa was walked and I was out of the house. Got on the motorway for the only 10 or 20km I expect to do on a motorway in the next few days.

 

 

Made my way to the Douro river, and started to retrace the ride I last posted in Douro wine region.

The 108 is a great little road, there was a big car meeting , maybe 30 cars or more, tuned and driving like idiots. Made it hard to pass them because a lot of the cars were quite fast, but very slow in other areas, started to piss me off until an old dude in a tractor caused a traffic jam and I passed them all in one go.

Douro, along the 108 between Porto and Pinhão:

 

Stopped a little for lunch, at a scenic place with a lot of shade:

 

 

Lots of bikes there, a couple of groups making picnics, I had my leftover roast and spinach sandwich:

 

 

 

Got back on the road heading to Pinhão

 

After Pinhão, crossed the river and rode a little bit on the south side of it, a little away from the water. Temperature immediately increased as I went over the tall hills inland. Also, views started to get bigger, I needed big vistas:

 

Road was quite nice:

 

 

 

 

Got quite high

 

Stopped to call firefighters, someone must have thrown a cigarette from a car and started a fire right on the side of the road, it was consuming a tree when I got there and about to get big. By the time my call made it through to the local department it was substantially big, but they told me they had been called and a car was arriving to deal with it. With everything that Portugal has been through in the last 4 years, I can't understand how some people can be so careless.

 

Got lost crossing Vila Nova de Foz Coa, a few old, maybe restored houses, using the typical schist building.

 

Stopped, to figure out what to do regarding sleeping arrangements by 4PM, didn't think there would be so many tourists and by that time most of the places were already fully booked. Finally got on the phone with a little place that only had a 5 people room/cottage, I cried the price down since I am by myself, and they were gracious enough to accept. A course was plotted to Freixo de Espada à Cinta, about an hour away. This would be less scenic but one hell of a road to ride, not wide, plenty of great mid speed corners and great rhythm. A sign warned "mountain road, use care", to which I think I ignored 

 

 

 

Arrived quicker than expected, feeling quite in need of drinking fluids. I neglected stopping to buy water in the afternoon and was feeling hot and a little thirsty. So I ignored the castles and touristy stuff since that's not really my scene, here's a picture in the distance for you 

 

Instead, found a place to park the bike with a view, under a little shade next to my accommodations for the night

 

Enjoyed the great view, and went straight for a dip in the pool, drank half a liter of water and am now finishing this orange juice as I type this

 

Temperature got to about 34º today (93ºF for the yanks, you are welcome) which surprised me since over the past days it's been cool. Next, will go back in the pool for a while, and relax. Then a little later will have dinner here as well, I'll keep you posted , but I feel like cold white wine to drink along with dinner 

 

[Pedro]

The ride today, if you want to check it in google maps, it's lacking a little detour but pretty accurate

[XTreme]

Absolutely brilliant @Pedro

The quality of those images is amazing! 

[Specs]

Great photos. Well impressed.

 

[Pedro]

Thanks, to be honest I stopped a lot more to take pictures than I would have if not for this forum 

 

A great ending to a great afternoon

 

[XTreme]

5 minutes ago, Pedro said:

I stopped a lot more to take pictures than I would have if not for this forum 

And it acts as a permanent memory/record.

A guy on FB who's a train buff liked the Seron Station report.......so I told him about the Caniles one from a month ago.

No hope of finding it on a big bike group so I just gave him the forum link! Job done!

Nice bit of exposure too because I had a reason to post it......if I didn't it would just look like spamming.

[Earache]

Nice! I need a house on the banks of that lake.

[Sir Fallsalot]

Nice ride Pedro

[Pedro]

11 minutes ago, Earache said:

Nice! I need a house on the banks of that lake.

It’s not a lake, it’s the Douro river.

As a curiosity, it’s the world’s oldest wine making demarcated region. Like, proper old, before Rome I think

[Earache]

17 minutes ago, Pedro said:

It’s not a lake, it’s the Douro river.

As a curiosity, it’s the world’s oldest wine making demarcated region. Like, proper old, before Rome I think

Sorry - looked like a lake to my uneducated eyes. Still, I need a villa on the banks, some nubile, lithe woman pouring wine down my gullet while I lounge on the verandah.

Yup, that's what I need.

Great pics!

[Pedro]

That’s what everyone needs! 

[Pedro]

[XTreme]

Where are you staying now @Pedro?

[Pedro]

19 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Where are you staying now @Pedro?

Freixo de Espada à Cinta, check on google maps. Spain is on the other side of that river right there.

[boboneleg]

Wow, fantastic scenery Pedro.  I presume the hillsides are 'terraced' as part of the wine growing ?

[Pedro]

1 hour ago, boboneleg said:

 I presume the hillsides are 'terraced' as part of the wine growing ?

Yes, that's the only way to work on vines and have any method regarding harvesting. There are millions of these steps built, from way back when. I mean proper old, like 1700 years ago  

Makes for a very unique landscape.

 

On other news, I liked this place so much, and appreciated the food so much, that I got to talking with the owner and I offered to bring my organ tree and plant it here. On my last trip to Morocco my girlfriend collected a couple of argan seeds from the ground and I planted them. One of them has been growing for over two years now, in a largish pot. It's a slow growing tree that might eventually get pretty great and majestic, so I would rather it would get to grow on proper soil, since the only ground I own is right next to my house the tree's roots might damage my basement's walls. The lady is quite enthusiastic about weird trees and plants, and biologic stuff, so is happy to give this tree a home, which we will in a close future. 

Quite happy with it , plus it's a fucking great place to come and visit my tree.

[Sir Fallsalot]

12 hours ago, Pedro said:

Yes, that's the only way to work on vines and have any method regarding harvesting. There are millions of these steps built, from way back when. I mean proper old, like 1700 years ago  

Makes for a very unique landscape.

 

On other news, I liked this place so much, and appreciated the food so much, that I got to talking with the owner and I offered to bring my organ tree and plant it here. On my last trip to Morocco my girlfriend collected a couple of argan seeds from the ground and I planted them. One of them has been growing for over two years now, in a largish pot. It's a slow growing tree that might eventually get pretty great and majestic, so I would rather it would get to grow on proper soil, since the only ground I own is right next to my house the tree's roots might damage my basement's walls. The lady is quite enthusiastic about weird trees and plants, and biologic stuff, so is happy to give this tree a home, which we will in a close future. 

Quite happy with it , plus it's a fucking great place to come and visit my tree.

I had to google that tree to see what it was and this is one of the images that came up 

[Tym]

Makes my day of cutting  my grass look,well, like i wasted my day cutting my grass. 

[Pedro]

7 hours ago, Sir Fallsalot said:

I had to google that tree to see what it was and this is one of the images that came up 

That's a tourist trap, actually, they push the goats up the tree and keep them there. You can see they made some platforms for them to stay on. However, up in the mountains  you'll see goats actually run up and down trees. I'll post a Morocco report one of these days, when I get the heart to do it, and there will be a small video of those.

[Pedro]

OK, it's now 22:00 and I'm about to type this after drinking a bottle of pretty average to shitty white wine, I hope you degenerates appreciate this. I don't want to be a day behind or else I fear I may never pick it back up 

So, yesterday evening yours truly had a memorable meal with an amazing view to the Douro River at sunset. I made friends with the people that own the small villa/hotel, I think the wife runs it and the husband cooks. He's quite good, and their own wine is something to be appreciated indeed. I'll come back for two reasons, second is to pick up a few of those bottles wether they want to sell them or not, and the other is to find a home for the Argan tree I have growing in a big pot at home. Me and Maria picked a few seeds off of the ground in Morocco, and I started to grow one one of them before she died. I love the thing to bits and would like to have it planted somewhere where it can grow with proper ground to put roots on and plenty of sunshine and heat. Yesterday I found the place, and the lady to water it while it needs the care. I'd get a kick of visiting my own Argan tree in the douro region, and talk to it while drinking some pristine wine. To me, that's cool as fuck.

So, ate well, drank too much, woke up at sunrise to go back to sleep and show up for breakfast at 8:30, the place is gorgeous and this is it in the morning light (long after sunrise, so sue me!)

 

I had a nice light lunch, homemade yogurt along with fresh fruits, some oj, and plenty of great coffee. People there were pretty worried I would eat bread of bacon and eggs, but this here is a man making an effort!

Rode off to one the Douro's most scenic viewpoints, just enough time to warm the bike up before getting there. Here in the north we get a lot of scenery but usually not big vistas, this is not the case. I stopped the bike with nobody else there but myself and it is a sight to behold. I'll just post a few pictures for you to get an idea of it, this side is Portugal, other side (uglier ) is Spain:

 

 

Riding over I notice these huge birds, eagles and vultures, they're so impressive because so high up you can see them from what seems like very close up

 

I have just started the day, but am sitting down by my bike happy to spend an hour or two just marveling at the view, might as well take it all in in peace and quiet before I go. Just take a second or two and see if you get the sense of space I got, pictures are taken with my phone, not a proper camera so you get what you pay for:

 

As soon as I'm settling down on a wooden bench wishing I had another nice cup of coffee, a bunch of lycra clad twats roll in. with a Kangoo following, Kangoo twat decides to provide Lycra twats with beverages, and there goes my piece and quiet. Guys shouting at each other left and right, 30 seconds later they're asking for beer, and flying a drone. Eagles and Vultures scatter as soon as the drone starts flying, so now I got twats screaming and drone in the air, and I'm starting to wish I was @Tym and packing heat.

Here, noisy lycra clad twats to my left:

 

Riding off, I'm on nice tarmac, but decide to abort and ride what seems like a more scenic route on google maps, except it's not tarmac. No problem, because as far as dirt roads go, I've never been in one with a better view in Portugal:

 

 

I'm bumbling along smoothly in third or fourth gear, when all of a sudden a huge shadow goes over me, I stop and notice a bunch of birds on top and beside me. Now, please bear with me a little bit, cellphone pictures of flying birds aren't that impressive here, but they were quite big:

 

The land whale waiting patiently:

 

Alone on top of a mountain looking at views and birds, I'm having a happy moment

 

Birds get closer and closer

 

Suddenly, a lot more of them start to circle on top, and I wonder if they might think me and the GS are in trouble. It is a shaft driven BMW after all, with a decidedly unproficient rider ...

 

I counted 30 birds at one time, being a little cold from the morning air I take my time to put on a light sweater and finally ride on, those 15 or 20 minutes all alone on top of a mountain with a few birds for company felt like a special experience. 

Riding on dirt, though, was a little harder work and as soon as I got on tarmac I was ready to stop to take the mid layer off 

I picked a place with some road porn for you, this is what you can expect to get if you book one of @Sofia 's future northern rides, view to the left:

With this road ahead:

Now don't get any ideas, this is my kind of road, but it's broken tarmac full of character, patches of gravel or dirt mid corner, big drops, and on sundays and summer months you also get the 5 people inside a Peugeot 307 station driving on the complete wrong side of the road.

Road is a good one, though

 

 

At Barca D'Alba , home of some amazing wines, and as the river stops being the border between Portugal and Spain and turn into Portugal, I say goodbye to Portugal's (and arguably one of the worlds) great wine regions, cross it, and continue to head south. But not before stopping to clean an oil drip coming off the oil filling cap. Barca D'Alba:

 

Still the Douro in the distance:

 

Road remains pretty great if you like twisties. Little further down the line, with the landscape getting smoother and the temperature increasing, I notice an add in front of a house and remember @Earache pondering a house in a certain biking paradise. Here you get a gentleman's home, there are surely plenty up for grabs in the area, I hereby wave my finder's fee:

 

Road starts to get straight at times, and landscape changes dramatically

 

Management noticed a few of you liked old stuff and culture. I am not usually one to stop for old stuff and buildings, but here you go, culture and old stuff. A medieval bridge (quite exciting, for medieval times) in a little square all restored in honor of a master sergeant who died in battle in 1642.

 

 

I did this as a tease, because with all due respect to the master sargeant, things are about to improve regarding old things. But first, look how this small road is closed, it crosses into Spain in a couple of kms: 

 

Now, arriving in Almeida's fortress. It's not a castle, but I like fortresses more:

You'd be proper fucked if you were stuck between these walls with a locked gate.

 

After parking the bike inside, I go for a short stroll on top of the walls, and a smells starts to make me hungry. Behind one of those tree down there you see a beige awning, three old dudes grilling chicken down there. 

 

One of the old chicken grilling dudes' ride, a Sachs V5, 50cc two stroke:

 

Top of the walls:

Main road into town:

And guard's shelter covering the entrance from above:

 

From top of the main entrance building in the previous pictures:

 

Looking into the square, this group of tourists is trying to take a timed picture of themselves. Poor guy is running back and forward. 

Eventually I make it down there and shoot their picture for them, after 15 minutes of trying I get an aplause 

Here's something historical for you

 

Fortress entrance:

 

Read up, culture:

 

Made my way away from Almeida, 

 

Few kms further on, another castle. This area is full of them, being a border area with Spain near Salamanca, a very important city in Spain back then, home of their biggest University of old. Castelo Bom (translated to Good Castle) is a tiny fortification, a village squeezed within walls

 

I rode in and found a spot to park, space is not abundant:

And away again:

 

I stop to give this guy a nose cuddle, I think it's apreciated because of the temporary fly relief

 

Little ways further, I stop for lunch. Wind is blowing a warm breeze, I have a nice wee and proceed to eat my sandwich, kindly prepared by the nice lady in the hotel, a little ham, a little cheese, little lettuce and a little butter in dark cereal bread. Lovely lunch and location, two cars passed the whole time I was stopped

 

On the picture above you can really see the difference between this morning's landscape and where I am going.

Stopped for an expresso after lunch. No normal portuguese person can go by without an expresso after lunch.

 

Getting tired of typing, just look at the nice pictures of the great forrest roads after I had my expresso

 

Nature slowly taking back this previously tarmac road, turned out to be a dead end.

 

Now in a pretty great forrest area, in a nature reserve and always taking the smallest roads possible. That's why it's taking so long to cross this small country

 

Going a little further south, I pass Fundão, this is more or less the center of Portugal if you look at it from north to south, it's a pretty flat area stuck between hills, and fucking hot. Right now I'm in need of a swim after crossing that damm in previous pictures. Saw a couple of small cottages right on the water but early birds had gotten the worm, serves me right for not making plans. I divert from the road to climb a little village with a small castle on top in search of a view. Long story short, there was a little fender bender, a very steep very narrow cobblestone street, a hot Pedro on top of a blowing GS, and I didn't feel like waiting around, so there you go, you get this instead, another house for sale, this time smaller and more modest but with a proper view. Don't move here though, you'll melt:

 

By this time, I'm melting, I pass a fuel station with the fuel light already on but decide to ignore it since the town where I'm sleeping has a couple of hotels so should have a fuel station as well.

Make it to the hotel and the nice swimming pool beside it, and jump right in

two or three hours later, I regret my choice of location, this is truly a one horse town, everything's closed or abandoned, I am looking to find a small typical joint to eat in, but no luck, the only thing I find is a great oak tree, typical of the area, and an abandoned guesthouse overrun by swallows

 

Make my way back to the hotel, and have a mediocre meal washed down with some average (at best) wine, missing my friends  from the previous night and their wine.

Tomorrow is another day, probably a warmer day as well. Bike as done about 550km on this fuel tank, need to deal with fuel first thing in the morning.

 

See ya...

 

[Earache]

Have to look at my bank account, but I may be a few euro short of buying that house.

 

Excellent ride report that has it all; evil birds, big assed cannons, Lycra twats and historical buildings. I like it!

[Tym]

Amazing pics @Pedro!

[Catteeclan]

Great stuff.

[Pedro]

So, yesterday started well, not very warm by the time I left the hotel at around 9am, made my way to find some petrol as the bike was on reserve and in this part of the country you can ride for a while without fuel in rural areas, I mean 40km, not really such a drama. The big GS is quite frugal if you avoid motorways, and by the time I fueled up I had 600km on that tank with 50km range left.

Landscape is changing now

With a full tank I explore a little, there is no rush in going fast south, but I seem only be able to find dead ends, like this

 

 

The grass is a little too tall for my liking, it's now getting a little hot and windy so I decide to go back to tarmac roads. A hot catalytic converter and tall dry grass is a great way to start a wildfire, and there has been enough of that over the last years. The road is good, though, I try to stick to small ones:

 

See that on the other side of the river? That's Spain

 

It's steeper than it looks

 

 

My favourite road so far, as far as fun handling a motorcycle, it's barely wide enough for one van, and rolling and weaving through hills, with patches of dirt thrown in to keep it interesting:

 

It was now getting hot, at around 11:30 it was over 37º, still I couldn't resist this dirt road:

It only lasted for a few km, not even 15 I think. By now I am getting hot and hungry,  so decide to find a small place for lunch. I stop at the first cafe that has shade outside, sit down and do a few calls and emails while I wait for my ham sandwich. Some water and a cold small beer go down a treat. Old lady in the cafe put some butter on the sandwich, "because I think this is your lunch, and you should have a proper lunch" 

 

 

Street scene, after these two dudes sat together having a drink inside, they proceeded to have a conversation outside while maintaining their social distancing , there's so much rural portugal in this picture ...

 

Old lady over there in the shade with her cane is wearing full black, and it's 37º, she's got the cane ready for when the cat comes to shit on her flowers 

 

Back on the road, and a few kms later I stop to check my itinerary and a mini castle. Most common big birds now are storks:

 

 

Pretty proud of myself taking this picture, and I go and put my thumb in it

 

Half an hour later, the roads are ok but the heat is barely manageable. I stop at a fountain and wash my head to cool down.

 

 

Last stop before getting to the hotel is Marvão and it's castle. It's very high up and worth it for the views alone. There it is in the distance:

 

 

 

 

 

Make it to the hotel, and quickly make my way to the pool, to finish the day. I drank almost 1,5 liters of water just sitting there, plus a couple of beers, before starting to feel less thirsty.

 

Sofia joined me for dinner, I had some greats cuttlefish and clams cooked in garlic and olive oil, it was amazing. Too much wine was had.

 

 

[XTreme]

Fantastic Pedro! 

Except for the food! Cuttlefish and clams?