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.
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.
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:
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:
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....
