Cascais 2012 - Home

The high winds continued to the UK and were pretty bad on the early miles from Portsmouth. Heavy rain decided to add to the misery as we came over the Cotswolds and I had to lift my visor altogether at one point because of the condensation on the inside and torrents outside. Fortunately, it was dry when we arrived home to unload.

The bad weather is forgotten and the memories of 2,000 miles of great riding, scenery, sunshine, the best rally yet and good company persist.

Cascais 2012 - Inbound 2

The following day, we decided to stop in Miranda do Douro for coffee, a short ride to begin. The coffee was fine and we picked up a couple of bits of shopping, but the exit was to be another satnav disaster. First, it was a pedestrian precinct and then a dead end not on the map. Next, we hit road works and a diversion, then some more road works and a u-turn. Finally, we were rewarded with a very scenic descent into the Douro River gorge and crossed over an hydroelectric dam and crossed into Spain to climb onto the vast flat arable plains that would prevail for the rest of the day to Benavente.

Our Parador was on top of a hill, having been a castle until Napoleon destroyed most of it in 1808, but most of the tower is original and the restoration has been very well done both in terms of building and furnishing.

Our last stop was in the Parador Cervera de Pisuerga, again up a mountain in the Fuentes National Park. Unlike the other Paradors, this had been purpose built as a hotel and was themed in the style of a hunting lodge. The views were once more magnificent.

Our last stop was in the Parador Cervera de Pisuerga, again up a mountain in the Fuentes National Park. Unlike the other Paradors, this had been purpose built as a hotel and was themed in the style of a hunting lodge. The views were once more magnificent.

We enjoyed our evening here, but the wind got up during the night and some had a bad night with banging shutters and the flags outside thrashing against their poles.

In the morning, we had a short ride to Santander, but cloud and fog were to make some of this rather unpleasant. Our ferry sailed on time, but the Bay of Biscay chose to have one last shot at us because of the high winds.

Cascais 2012 - Inbound 1

Our first stop on the homeward journey on the highest mountain in Portugal, Serra da Estrela, about 300km north of Lisbon near Covilha. It is a ski resort in the winter and peaks at about 2,000m. Our hotel was at about 1,600m and had a great view of the valley below:

We decided we would ride over the peak in the morning, but anticipated that we could hit cloud on the other side, as it had gathered in the valley below during the night:

First, however, we climbed to the peak, rugged and barren, passing through some cloud and getting cooler as we wound our way along the twisting road and round sharp hairpin bends.

After enjoying these great views, we dropped over the other side into the cloud, and it was miserable! Visibility was very poor, the road was wet, twisty and without markings in places. My satnav decided to 'freeze' during this so I lost any anticipation of the bends from it and we had to soldier on in low gears very slowly. Sue and John fell back out of sight but Wayne stayed close. At one point a Portuguese drive, female we believe, passed us without lights and disappeared into the gloom! Finally we dropped down below the cloud and into Mangualde, where a coffee stop was very welcome.

After refreshments, we headed for the Douro National Park, where we followed the river gorge for quite a long period, again on twisty scenic roads. Once again, satnav was to let me down and we headed into the tiny village of Burcos, over uneven cobbled roads, past a barking dog and some bemused villagers, to a dead end. Wrestling the bikes around, we went back out of the village, waved past by some labourers on scaffolding, also bemused, to find that the dog had been tied up as we were obviously expected back! Finally, we made it to the small town of Bemposta, just inside the Portuguese border with Spain.

Here, we were in a small hotel that had once been an 18th century Episcopalian palace, deserted apart from us, with a small chapel still inside it. The very friendly landlord informed us that 95% of his residents were Spanish, the other 5% Portuguese, so we were the first from UK!

It was to be the cheapest place we stayed and the food wasn't very good, but he was so welcoming. The wine came in jugs from the fridge, red or white, but it had a lock up garage, the only one of the return trip, which was just below our rooms.

Cascais 2012 - The Parade

It is traditional to have a Parade at a rally and this was headed and marshalled by the Police and junctions were closed to allow the reported 7,000 Harleys to pass uninterrupted.  A few sports bikes and even a mini bike and a pink Vespa sneaked into it, all welcome of course!  People lined the streets throughout, cheering and waving, as it was well advertised locally in advance.  Those taking part assembled at the Estoril race track and did a circuit there before taking the road to Sintra, returning to Cascais along the coast, then to Carcavelos, looping back to Cascais again and the rally site, 32km in all.

Lots of people asked for photographs of them or their children on the bikes afterwards and the riders were more than happy to oblige.  It's a great spectacle that is welcomed by the hosts, despite the noise!

Cascais 2012 - The Rally

Other groups from our Chapter had travelled separately and soon we were encountering each other.  The Chapter flag was found in the centre of it on the back of one of their Harleys.

Once again, riders had come from all over Europe, north Africa, and some other distant places, indulging in the spectacle of bikes on display, every one different, some heavily customised to the point it was difficult to see what they had been beforehand.

A few were vintage.

There were lots and lots of them.

The stage by the beach was set for 3 evenings of music with several very good bands and other locations has live during the day as rally-goers roamed the Harley stands to view and buy the vast array of merchandise on display.

The Town Hall surrounded!

It was an fascinating blend of traditional Portuguese architecture, cobbled streets and tiled walls together with Milwaukee steel and merchandise!  The weather was perfect for the 3 days.  Two airplane stunt shows graced the area over the beach and water with displays and it is reported that 60,000 people and 12,000 bikes flocked to the resort to enjoy the spectacle.

Cascais 2012 - Outbound 3

For the first time, we headed west towards the coast from Viseu, stopped briefly for cold drinks at Figuera da Foz for cold drinks and saw the first groups of other Harleys making their way to the rally since Bilbao.  Then, it was down the coast to our next stop at Nazare, where we found the hotel located in some very tight and difficult cobbled streets.  When trying to check in, I was told that we were in another part, a short ride away.  After a bit more tricky cobbled riding, we found the main hotel overlooking a marina and the coast, rather isolated but delightful.

Miserable rain returned the next day and, after a tricky exit from Nazare, we got separated into two groups - John & Sue and Wayne with Jean and me.  We wouldn't meet again until Cascais later in the day.  Wayne and I followed the designed route and found ourselves in some hills near the coast in thick cloud/fog with almost no visibility.  We also had to negotiate some difficult turns and gradients to get down onto the coast road that we would follow south.  We passed through the first place I had intended to stop because it was so wet and the road to the sea front was closed, and headed on to Peniche. Here we found a large beach, divers getting ready in the car park, the smell of sardines in the air, some decent coffee and ice cream during our stop.

From Peniche, it was further down the coast, passing through Gibralter and Benfica, not the originals, to a stop for lunch in a typical Portuguese restaurant, which was full of men enjoying large lunches and carafes of wine.  We settled for a light option and a cold soft drink before heading on for Sintra and Cascais.  In hilly Sintra, satnav caught me out again and took me off a roundabout one exit early.  After a u-turn, we then had to rejoin the roundabout from a very steep incline and execute a 160deg turn onto the next exit, which was very demanding with two up.  Into the hills on the last leg, it was twisty and hilly and a small bus in front of us was having to pupp across the road to see round the bends.  Six Italians on Harleys, however, were to live up to their reputation and roar past us and the bus on the outside on a blind bend!

Finally, we rode some very pretty coast road to arrive in Cascais in bright sunshine under blue skies.  I had been here once before when on the Carcavelos Reunion with others from C&W just under two years ago.

Cascais 2012 - Outbound 2

Squalls of rain together with some winds played an early part the next day as we went in a large loop to find some interesting roads to Bragança, just inside Portugal.  The last leg took us over some continuously twisty road, with perilous drops and no crash barriers, which taxed us all at the end of the ride.  Bragança sits high on a hill and the winds here were sufficient to seriously rock my Harley even while stationary, and some tricky cobbled streets through the city had to be negotiated to find the Pousada on the hilltop overlooking it.  The ragged flag on the castle opposite was further evident about the windy location.  It was a good evening as Wayne and John each correctly predicted the scores of the Euro 2012 football matches at check-in and won a bottle of wine each later.  The manager was delighted presenting, and so were we consuming them!

Setting off on a fairly straight route to our next Pousada at Viseu took us unwittingly onto endless roadwork where a new dual carriageway was replacing the old highway.  It went on for miles and it made me wonder where the money was coming from in these austere times - Europe?  The further problem is that these new roads were not in my satnav map, so we were taken off the road through some difficult cobbled village streets on one occasion, and I led us through another later looking for a place for lunch, to no avail.  You have to be circumspect in these situations and take what comes.  We felt we had seen another side of Portugal with these two excursions and they weren't to be the last!  The Pousada of Viseu used to be part of a hospital and was relatively recently converted to a hotel, a rather grand one at that, with a large atrium and plush rooms.

Our policy was to ride until we found a coffee stop, then a lunch stop, then a cold drink stop, breaking the day into 4.  Most of the time, this worked unless we were in more remote areas, and we had to take what existed when we found it.  We did find some great cakes and custard tarts in some places!

Cascais 2012 - Outbound 1

The destination was Cascais, 30km west of Lisbon, for the 21st Annual European HOG Rally, the forecast was bad and, sadly, was right!  High winds and heavy rain made the ferry departure to Portsmouth rather miserable, although it did dry towards the end, which was fortunate while we waited to board.  All ferry crossings were booked up to northern Spain within days of the timetable being published last Dec, so we knew there would be many bikes from UK attending and lots joined our ferry from around UK.  The Bay of Biscay was rather choppy but we all survived, 5 people on 4 Harleys - Jean on the back with me, Wayne, John and Sue.

Wayne in the mirror!

24hrs later we were in Bilbao to encounter more rain!  A short ride took us to our first Parador, in Limpias, which used to be a 19th century palace.  The Paradors are buildings that have ceased their original use and been taken over by the Government.  The architecture is generally grand, some locations are superb, the service can vary, but the price is very reasonable.  The Portuguese equivalent is the Pousada and we were to enjoy a few of them as well.  There were to be no early starts from here on and no unduly high daily mileages on our trip.  We were to enjoy the journey to and from our destination.

From Limpias, we went the long way round the Picos Mountains, enjoying great scenery as the weather and road dried out and the temperature climbed, to our next Parador in Leon.  It dates from 1515, is a very grand accommodation that used to be sanctuary for pilgrims in the centre of the city with grand cloisters and gardens, and the largest of all the Paradors in Spain.