Portugal Spring 2014 - Not for the faint-hearted...

You may remember my last Portugal report in which I strongly advised all trail riders against visiting the country.

Well, I believe that everyone and everything deserves a second chance and so, at the end of April, we headed towards the South-Western part of Europe again.

This time we were eight (at least to start with...):

RickA and Timpo, the usual suspects that you find on almost every Portugal trip


Riding an X-Challenge and a 690 respectively


Recidivist Possu


On his 690


Almost local boy Euskalherria


On his mighty 990R


Portugal newcomer Owdknacker


Floating on his 400EXC


VTwins4me


Riding (ahem...) his 950SE


Tim from Guernsey


On his XTZ660


And your reporter with her CRF230F



This will be a tale of -

An amazing choice of the most diverse trails wherever you look


Great teamwork


Scary hill climbs


Slippery slopes


Deep river crossings


Dodgy river crossings


Near misses


Hard work


One incredibly lucky bastard


Brief nudity, which some viewers may find upsetting


Picturesque countryside


Enchanted places


Fantastic views


History


and Prehistory


Some impressive engineering


Of course, fabulous food




Superb accommodation


Exciting nightlife


The wonderful local people we had the privilege to meet




... and brilliant camaraderie


I hope you are looking forward to the next episode now...

Am I jealous or what!
Great start as usual Pumpy!
I'm in......................can't wait for the next chapter

I'm glad you like my country. It certainly has it's quirks but it's a beautiful place, with great people and great weather.

Ehhh you kept this one quiet , if i'd know i could have joined you , after all it just down the road
Looking forward to more
Phil

Nice pics guys..some familiar faces...I`m off doing the softer top to toe route this week...with a bit of the pico`s thrown in ..

no muddymatt or Famous?

Looks fabulous...

Too bad we weren't able to join, looks like a great ride!
Can't wait for the rest of the report.

Sorry, Phil, next time you'll be on my radar, promised!

I didn't invite anyone who was already on the GYOA list, as it seemed unlikely that people would/could take three weeks holiday for that trip AND another six days for Portugal less than a month before - apart from Timpo and Rick, obviously...

Thanks all for your kind feedback!

I was wondering how many days it would take for this report to show up...

Another trip around here and another one I couldn't join... Hopefully I'll join you on the next one. Have to check if there's some legal status for temporary expats

Cheers and see you 'round

Bring it on!!

Do that..... I will put somnething together for an October trip to Portugal again. Possibly a mid-eastern or a southern loop, we'll see. Some folk are asking about a trip with smaller sized bikes and just venture out each day without luggage from a central campsite or hostel, that's all possible.

This trip though was a cracker, the tracks aorund the Chaves to Melgaco regions were awesome, and they alone would be great with smaller bikes, being able to cover more distance and trails with greater technicality....hmmm, let me re-think!

Oh, and I'll let RickA give us the ferry report, as he wasn't impressed with the LD Lines tub.....:huh

Dont menion LD lines....

they cancelled on us this morning after being told the ferry was running we cancelled the brittany back up ..then that sold out..

still we are the brittany one on wednesday into Bilbao so more ground to cover to Braganca start point...or is it Sotres..

we also have some rain forcast foe next week..that`ll make it interesting

Cant's wait to be reading this one Pumpy. It is already bringing back a load of happy memories of last Octobers trip.

PS - I'd keep an eye on Possu and the police lady thingy!

Talking from experience, Gareth?

Good start Ela, I'll chip in with a few pics here and there, (only for the first two days though!!).

A Great trip - we were all expecting the worst of the weather but it turned out to be fab with only half a day of rain and warm for the rest of the trip.

Can't post any pictures because some fool brought his camera but forgot to put the memory card in it.....

Being spring - the river crossings were deep and interesting! Never had the 690 exhaust underwater before, blowing spray whilst my fingers hovered nervously above the kill switch...

The tough trails took their toll and at one point it was just Timpo and myself out there with the rest of the team licking their wounds/looking glumly at broken bikes/searching for lost passports (Muppet award of the trip!).

LD Lines - that's another story! On the way out we were treated to lifeboat drill - a first for me on any ferry, and this should have forewarned me for what was to come!
The Deckhands were all pissed as farts and trying to sell us contraband goods, the facilities on board were crap and expensive, and the old cross-channel ferry had no place in the Bay of Biscay, especially in the storm we encountered. There were bodies being hurled out of their chairs and injured and vomit being hurled by just about everyone else! Never been on a tub that rolled and pitched like this old thing! Really thought it was going to go over a few times in the night! :eek1

For a few quid more - book Brittany!

We all survived the trip however and had a great time - the food and wine as good as the craic. Looking forward to the next one already!

Great pictures Pumpy!

Cheers, Rick

Hi all. Good introduction Ela, ;-)<?xml:namespace prefix = "o" ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" /><o></o>
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Going to Portugal is always a good plan. Nice tracks, fantastic people and fabulous food. <o></o>
I can´t post many pictures, I just ride two days because a health problem.<o></o>
So lets start,<o></o>
I arrive to campsite Cepo Verde some hours before Britihs . I came by car because my health and the trip till there, just 5 hours was not so good, I suffered some dizziness. But the desire to ride was bigger than sense. On the campsite I prepair mu bike and cabin and later have a big walk. Finally a meet Tim and the rest of the crew came very late in the night because a very pleasant trip by ferry.<o></o>

My cabin for that night
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The adventure starts. First refueling
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In the first kilometers the group was full
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Fantastic lanes
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This time, Rick was the leader of the group and the first crossing rivers…..
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Uffff is deeper than it looks but Rick is a good experienced rider and he do the work
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Second day preparing bikes<o></o>
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Timpo and Rick, my good team mates. For diferent reasons, the group was divided.
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Nice ancient lanes
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