Northern Portugal in May freak weather

[Pedro]

I left home to go and meet up with Sofia to help guide one of her motorcycle tours. Meeting in Tras os Montes, near the inner North Portuguese border, where we'd meet her client the next day.

Hardly no stops this day as I left later than planned. Did take back roads to get there though, before meeting with Sofia at Pocinho, by the Douro river.

A stop on the way over to take a look at an access road to a farmhouse where we'd stop a few days later. It's quite steeper than it looks on pictures, surface not maintained as it's basically a work service road for vineyards. It's really the sort of stuff I love to ride on but not to everyone's taste.

 

We had been enjoying almost summer like weather during the previous 2 or 3 weeks, but the forecast was changing and I rode through a few showers on the way there. Spirits were high and I was met with a ham sandwich upon arrival. 

 

Sofia had two british friends riding down as well, doing the north of Portugal in dirt roads and mostly off tarmac tracks, we were to meet them for a coffee since we had now time to spare before our destination for the night. Met up in a little village, and I took a few pictures while we waited. We ended up waiting more than anticipated because it turns out they were coping with a rear tire puncture.

 

Eventually they arrived, their bung didn't do it repairing the puncture and it had a slow leak. Considering this a saturday afternoon in the middle of nowhere, and that most shops around would be closed on sunday, I gave it a go using my trusty repair kit. It worked like a charm, they carried on with the trip and it's still going strong today. 

 

While all this went on, the weather changed again and a heavy rain arrived. We waited a little while having a coffee.

 

We made it home for our room for the night later than scheduled and after the last bit of the ride being in cold rain. Went to have dinner at my favourite restaurant, a proper beef rib perfectly cooked on coal. Happy times!

 

That night we stayed in an old lady's little air b n b style place in a farm house, the bikes enjoyed the night inside the farm size garage, most garages in this area are big enough for full size tractors to drive in and our with trailers, so the GS could barely fit in.

 

Contrary to previous weeks, this night temperatures were already quite low with a minimum of 0ºC. We rode off at around 4º or 5º in search of a cafe to have breakfast in, we weren't in a hurry because we were only expecting to meet up with Sofia's client by mid afternoon. Didn't make it 3 or 4 km down the road when we came upon a french guy with a fallen down Transalp 750. He dropped it parking on the side of the road, and couldn't get it back up. After lifting the bike, I managed to put his sidecase back on, it had both broke the lid and the mechanism that locks it onto the bike. Sofia had a strap that was used to then hold it all together, can't say I rate Honda's luggage very high after that incident. 

We did spend some time having coffee, then going to fuel up the bikes, and then already in the afternoon went to visit a village right near the border waiting for time to pass. Weather was cold and rainy.

 

Eventually we found this warm little place for a snack and to get away from the cold.

 

Will post almost no pictures of the tour itself as most of them feature a person that doesn't deserve to be shown in this forum , however, the next couple of days were blessed with big clouds and the odd threat of rain but overall really nice conditions to be out on bikes, if it had been in January.

First day 

 

Our stop for a picnic lunch:

 

And final stop point for the night, right before the hotel and dinner:

 

Next day, we made it up to Portugal's highest point, only a brief rain shower on the way there, but overall great conditions. Even had lunch by a lake under glorious sun. The road up the mountain:

 

Up there the temperatures were around 0º when we got there at around 14:30 to 15:00, pretty cold but the big clouds and brisk air made for great views. Up there it's often foggy and you can't see anything.

Going down the mountain the other side, we took a little dirtroad. I went ahead to check if it was muddy, it wasn't.

 

I wasn't happy to have this face off with a local cow, who wasn't happy to face a noisy bike either.

 

We spent that night at an amazing place with a couple of horses. They're friendly enough but are of a wild breed, not really for riding, and like to take nibbles at your hands.

 

 

Will continue later on or tomorrow, don't have that many pictures to post but there will be something.

[XTreme]

Looks superb Pedro......and I think you've nailed BOTM!

[Pedro]

18 minutes ago, XTreme said:

Looks superb Pedro......and I think you've nailed BOTM!

Maybe but it’s still a GS so it’s got that too, however that was on the 29th April, and I’m a fairplay guy 

[boboneleg]

Brilliant photos @Pedro , those little villages are absolutely ace .  I've ridden through similar places in Italy and Spain but I always feel like I'm intruding when you ride through those narrow streets .

[XTreme]

21 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Maybe but it’s still a GS so it’s got that too, however that was on the 29th April, and I’m a fairplay guy 

[Saul]

Lovely pictures.   

[Pedro]

16 hours ago, boboneleg said:

Brilliant photos @Pedro , those little villages are absolutely ace .  I've ridden through similar places in Italy and Spain but I always feel like I'm intruding when you ride through those narrow streets .

Some streets you do, but there’s always a main street in which traffic passes. As long as you’re respectful I think it’s ok, plus I wave to all old people and usually get a wave and a smile back.

Nothing people like more than when you stop and give them a chance for a little conversation to break the silence, too.

[XTreme]

20 minutes ago, Pedro said:

Nothing people like more than when you stop and give them a chance for a little conversation to break the silence, too.

A car load of Spaniards would help I'm sure!

[Six30]

nice one @Pedro... great pics

[skyrider]

2 hours ago, Pedro said:

I left home to go and meet up with Sofia to help guide one of her motorcycle tours. Meeting in Tras os Montes, near the inner North Portuguese border, where we'd meet her client the next day.

Hardly no stops this day as I left later than planned. Did take back roads to get there though, before meeting with Sofia at Pocinho, by the Douro river.

A stop on the way over to take a look at an access road to a farmhouse where we'd stop a few days later. It's quite steeper than it looks on pictures, surface not maintained as it's basically a work service road for vineyards. It's really the sort of stuff I love to ride on but not to everyone's taste.

 

We had been enjoying almost summer like weather during the previous 2 or 3 weeks, but the forecast was changing and I rode through a few showers on the way there. Spirits were high and I was met with a ham sandwich upon arrival. 

 

Sofia had two british friends riding down as well, doing the north of Portugal in dirt roads and mostly off tarmac tracks, we were to meet them for a coffee since we had now time to spare before our destination for the night. Met up in a little village, and I took a few pictures while we waited. We ended up waiting more than anticipated because it turns out they were coping with a rear tire puncture.

 

Eventually they arrived, their bung didn't do it repairing the puncture and it had a slow leak. Considering this a saturday afternoon in the middle of nowhere, and that most shops around would be closed on sunday, I gave it a go using my trusty repair kit. It worked like a charm, they carried on with the trip and it's still going strong today. 

 

While all this went on, the weather changed again and a heavy rain arrived. We waited a little while having a coffee.

 

We made it home for our room for the night later than scheduled and after the last bit of the ride being in cold rain. Went to have dinner at my favourite restaurant, a proper beef rib perfectly cooked on coal. Happy times!

 

That night we stayed in an old lady's little air b n b style place in a farm house, the bikes enjoyed the night inside the farm size garage, most garages in this area are big enough for full size tractors to drive in and our with trailers, so the GS could barely fit in.

 

Contrary to previous weeks, this night temperatures were already quite low with a minimum of 0ºC. We rode off at around 4º or 5º in search of a cafe to have breakfast in, we weren't in a hurry because we were only expecting to meet up with Sofia's client by mid afternoon. Didn't make it 3 or 4 km down the road when we came upon a french guy with a fallen down Transalp 750. He dropped it parking on the side of the road, and couldn't get it back up. After lifting the bike, I managed to put his sidecase back on, it had both broke the lid and the mechanism that locks it onto the bike. Sofia had a strap that was used to then hold it all together, can't say I rate Honda's luggage very high after that incident. 

We did spend some time having coffee, then going to fuel up the bikes, and then already in the afternoon went to visit a village right near the border waiting for time to pass. Weather was cold and rainy.

 

Eventually we found this warm little place for a snack and to get away from the cold.

 

Will post almost no pictures of the tour itself as most of them feature a person that doesn't deserve to be shown in this forum , however, the next couple of days were blessed with big clouds and the odd threat of rain but overall really nice conditions to be out on bikes, if it had been in January.

First day 

 

Our stop for a picnic lunch:

 

And final stop point for the night, right before the hotel and dinner:

 

Next day, we made it up to Portugal's highest point, only a brief rain shower on the way there, but overall great conditions. Even had lunch by a lake under glorious sun. The road up the mountain:

 

Up there the temperatures were around 0º when we got there at around 14:30 to 15:00, pretty cold but the big clouds and brisk air made for great views. Up there it's often foggy and you can't see anything.

Going down the mountain the other side, we took a little dirtroad. I went ahead to check if it was muddy, it wasn't.

 

I wasn't happy to have this face off with a local cow, who wasn't happy to face a noisy bike either.

 

We spent that night at an amazing place with a couple of horses. They're friendly enough but are of a wild breed, not really for riding, and like to take nibbles at your hands.

 

 

Will continue later on or tomorrow, don't have that many pictures to post but there will be something.

nothing wrong with a good ride out and a ham butty 

[Pedro]

Morning arrived with rain, and plenty of it

 

And under that weather we first tried some small country roads in the mountains, to then escape that with a beeline to the hotel for that evening. Arriving earlier than planned, we took a look at the local porcelain factory and museum.

 

Took this picture just for you lot

 

That evening we stayed in a lovely hotel, and caught an uber to go out for a typical great meal. All was well, in the morning we left with a promise of improving weather, but somehow that turned the other way and got worse. I, in a flash of optimism caused by some brief visions of blue skies turned up a mountain and that turned out to be a big mistake. Up there the promise of blue skies quickly turned into dark low clouds, and after a few minutes, snow fall. I didn't stop for pictures, the snow was falling quite heavily and the roads were suddenly with 4 to 5 cm of it, I was worried that by stopping it would quickly get to unrideable conditions, plus the mood wasn't for stopping and enjoying the views. Slowly, but as quickly as possible, we went down the mountain and out of the snow, to dive into a restaurant and warm up with hot soup and a great grilled steak.

Properly warmed up, again we pointed the bikes towards a warm shower, made it to Porto in little more than an hour, that night we ate some tapas and listened to a little Fado.

 

Next morning arrived, and we were heading up the Douro river. As we got ready to get out of the underground parking garage, we could hear the rain starting to pour outside 

A few moments, later, stopped in a very wet Porto while people were putting on their rain overalls.

 

Two or three hours later of riding under lots of rain, we reached the high Douro and stopped to enjoy a deserved break in the weather. Clouds were moving very quickly, so whatever sunshine we had was brief.

 

We rode the other 30 to 45 minutes up to our stay for the night, in a farmhouse, and braved the last kms of farm service roads. Great views on the roads to get there and upon destination.

 

Over a nice meal watered with the farm's own wine, we ended our tour. The following day we faced some more moody skies on the way back home. 

[boboneleg]

Great photos again @Pedro  , shame that the weather was so bad 

[Catteeclan]

Beautiful area, can see why you go back.

[YamaHead]

Brilliant pics @Pedro!!

[Specs]

Stunning scenery and a great read as usual. 

[Buckster]

I may take a ride through Portugal sometime. 

[XTreme]

18 minutes ago, Buckster said:

I may take a ride through Portugal sometime. 

Yeh....steer clear of this place! Your bike would never hack it!