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.