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Portugal

wobbly

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Nov 27, 2010
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Just packing the truck for a 11 day trip to Portugal. Am sure im taking too much.....

Ferry from plymouth on sunday to santander, then drive to Braganca, for 7 days laning ending up in Evora, then back up to Santander and home.

Theres one other vehicle, a disco, and my lad is navigating / co-driving my Landcruiser.

Can't wait.

Pete
 
Have a great trip.

Take 5 liters of oil for the Disco.

(Ben said so)

Gra.
 
Good luck, have a great time and I look forward to trip details and photos

good to read the seal was replaced on that diff :icon-cool:
 
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Have a great trip. :thumbup:

Have a great trip.

Take 5 liters of oil for the Disco.

(Ben said so)

Gra.

I think 20 litres, as its quite a big trip. :lol:
 
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Quick update....

Overnight ferry to Santander, then 6 hour drive to Braganca - the roads are deserted, I mean literally no other vehicles, yet they are brand new roads, EC money being wisely spent......

The lanes....awesome. Cant wait to come back.

Beer is cheap, food is cheap, weather lovely.

Drove from Braganca to Vila Flor today, mostly mountain tracks, up to 1200m, then down to 400m and 30deg.

Landcruiser running well, but os diff oil seal leaking nicely - am sure its the semi-synthetic. Top it up each morning, maybe 50ml of oil. Not getting worse yet.

Its a very comfy truck.

Terrano arb drop links are pants, think the os one is on its way out.

Will post photos when I get back due to sloooow internet and fast cervezas.

Cheers

Pete

Ps landy holding up well so far.
 
Quick update from campsite.

Absolutely knackered, driven some awesome tracks, a real range of types, some mountain, hill climb type rockcrawling, long sandy earth, some uk type, the choices are endless.

Our initial plan was five days with a different campsite each night - binned that as we found one site accessible to 3 long trails, so have managed an extra coupke of hours laning eachday.

The countryside is great, campsites are 1star at best but no problem.

Had hassle from the Republican Guard, got an on the spot fine for turning across a white line, despite the fact I was in a line of traffic but they were all locals ! Paid the fine, insisted on a receipt, no real problem.

Checking the front diff oil level daily, got it down to a fine art, have worked out the leak is at the top of the seal as it only leaks when running, so not losing oil overnight.

Definitely coming back for more lanes, but probably off to seaside for last few nights?

Cheers all

Pete

Ps fuel pump question in 90 series section, any advice appreciated.
 
Hi Pete

How was the rest of the trip - do you have any photos to show

Cheers

Tobie
 
Hi

Still on way home, on ferry at the moment.

No Internet for a few days, hence no updates.

Won't add now as ferry like an Alton towers ride, feeling decidedly odd...

Will post photos etc tomorrow.

Pete
 
Oh my - i have decent sea legs but my wife is a different thing. We are taking the ferry to Santander mid July - need to finally decide if its Pyrenees or Portugal .......
 
Is it for an off road based holiday?

Time is a factor - Portugal is a 48hr journey, day one travel and ferry, then day 2 ferry and travel into Portugal, and the same on return, so you need 10 or 11 days to make the ferry cost worthwhile.

That's the reason Portugal isn't swamped with 4x4's, because that's the only downside!

The lanes, never ending is the phrase. Zero traffic on the Tarmac roads, so imagine how little there is on the tracks - in 4 days, maybe 400km of tracks, we saw one other vehicle.

Maps are an issue, there aren't any easily available, but if you have oziexplorer they have digitised the military ones. Even the roadmaps are useless, so even going from town to town on minor roads is an experience.

Do you have an area in mind, I can help with routes from Braganca down to Evora, but I need to revise my road book as most of our days were only completed by 50 or 60%.

As a guide, the national parks are the real gems, and its true, there really are no restrictions.

If you are touring, campsites aren't common and are scenic but basic, we found nothing above 1*, not an issue for me, but Missus wouldn't be happy.

Many of the sites also offer stone cabins, at about 35€ a night, or small hotels about €50.

Will get some photos and locations up for you, am just going to try some dry toast......

Cheers

Pete
 
Pete,
It would be great if you could check http://www.openstreetmap.org/ and see how many of the roads you were on are featured on there.

I've been thinking of trying to build a mapping solution based on them for complete off line use. You can download the entire worlds maps free but the size is around 18gb.

Thanks,
Grant
 
Had a look at the openstreet map, none of the tracks on there at all, nothing really below N level, which is about an A road.
 
Would you just get a hurry up with photos & trip report please Pete!!! :icon-wink:
 
some openstreet maps are better than others

the portugal maps show tracks, footpaths
see attached
 

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and "on-trip" photos too

opps - i am heading to the mountain trails in a few weeks... better make sure i remember to upload some photos :whistle:

You'd think that with over a thousand posts he'd understand what is required of him by now wouldn't you Andy... :icon-razz:
 
Sorry for the tardiness, one of the sd cards wont give up its hidden secrets!


My lad and I planned on an 11 day trip through northern and eastern Portugal, following a route written in 2008 for a Toyota PR exercise.

The original vehicles were 120's, but we took my lwb Prado and a modded Disco.

Trip started with a 2 hour drive to Plymouth and then a 20 hour ferry to Santander, great crossing, smooth as a pool table.

From Santander we drove straight down to Valladolid in Spain, then across to Zamora, crossed the border into Portugal and then on the Braganca, base for our first night.

Got to mention roads here - quiet in Spain, absolutely deserted once past Zamora. The Portuguese govt spent its EC money on infrastructure, and has built thousands of miles of roads that get little use (in one case, between two tracks in a mountain, we found a tarmac road - inaccesible to normal cars!). Its a bit like being in a scene from the Walking Dead, no cars, no people, no livestock.

Campsite at Braganca was a lovely spot, Cepo Verde, but campsites in Portgugal are pretty basic affairs, look great, have good food, but showers etc are simple affairs, although cleaned very well.

Took the first track on the following morning. Off the (empty) main road, behind an adjacent house, then stayed off roads for about 60 miles. The tracks are well defined, in this case it was a cobbled surface to start, firm but plenty of vibration. This track took us straight up to about 1000m and a deserted TV tower, then down the other side. Tracks generally a mix of soil and stones, well drained, although some of the wash outs make me think in th erainy season of Nov/Dec it could be interesting.

DSCF4625.jpg

The view along the way was impressive, not only for the sightseeing, but also because it enabled a birds eye view of all the other lanes in the area, you just couldnt count them.

The tracks are all open to anyone, its because the land is all joint owned by co-operatives, so the tracks give access to everyones land, not like in this country where a farm track only gives access to one piece of land. You cant go on the co-operative land, but you wouldnt need to - but there are lots of little red signs to tell you who the land belongs to. There are also little white circles in red squares, about 6" in diameter, these tell you its hunting land......

As we dropped off the mountain the tracks took us through several small villages.

DSCF4632.jpg

The track shown here is the main road through the village. The locals arent overly welcoming, asking directions was frequently met by a 'shooing' gesture which indicates they dont want to talk to you, and not making eye contact is a cultural issue to be aware of, its not natural for people who dont know each other to make eye contact. The picture is the communal washroom/laundrette, still in use.

The track out of that particular village was unsurfaced and about 30ft wide, but as a new road had been put in it is now little used.

We stopped Day 1 after about 60 miles as time was ticking on and took the main road to Vila Flor. This became a common theme, we had to break down each of the Toyota days into smaller sections, I suspect they had a guide and hotels each night so could concentrate on finishing the routes as planned.

That night wa spent at a BnB:

DSCF4635.jpgDSCF4637.jpg

Unfortunately, I misunderstood the portugese receptionist, and it was 75euro per person, not per room, so James and I relocated to a local hotel at 55euro for a very nice room, but the others stayed.

Day 2 took us along more level ground, very similar to UK greenlaning on UCR type tracks.

Along the route we found a deserted Castle:

DSCF4651.jpg

If it was in the UK it would be a major attraction, but it was at the back of a village, accessed by a narrow lane through the houses.

End of day 2 took us to Guarda, a hilltop provincial town. We were meant to camo in the municipal campsite but it had a strange feel, it was in a park open to the public, just didnt feel right, so we decided to find a campsite about 10km away in the hills. This didnt work at all, couldnt find it as the maps are almost a waste of time, and the locals woerent communicative. We ended up in a village where a girl I spoke to found an english speaking guy, he then led us in his own car to a nearby campsite at Valhoeles, excellent place.

Once there we checked the routes and decided to split 2 routes into 3 day, using that site as a base.

More shortly....
 
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