Even the pilot of the Airbus A330 that took me across the Atlantic couldn’t contain his excitement as we approached Porto, Portugal. It’s just a special kind of place, I guess.
Europe is a lot of things: No other continent on this planet crams so much diversity, politics, history, culture, and fantastic food and drink into such a small geographical chunk of earth.
From Galway, Ireland to Kiev, Ukraine, thousands of years of diverse history hang on for dear life, while ever-advancing societies grow around an ancient infrastructure. For a motorcycling-photographer, the continent’s twisty roads, stunning mountain ranges, endless coastlines, and (generally speaking) an overall sense of safety, make for stress-free travel.
One thing Europe doesn’t have a reputation for though is being a dirt-road / dualsport mecca. Opportunities for off-road riding are few and far between. Most countries within the EU, due to its dense population and strict environmental regulations, forbid off-road travel. Even wild-camping (AKA: side-of-the-road camping) in much of Europe is highly regulated. In some countries, it seems that everything that isn’t paved is either gated or is private property. There are some notable exceptions though, like Greece, Romania, and Portugal!
Enter Portugal: Easily at the top of my favorites-list, Portugal is home to some of the best cuisine and wine in the world! Add a dash of mountainous terrain, pristine beaches, limitless dirt roads, cheap cost-of-living, and jaw-dropping scenery (that is dangerously distracting on a motorcycle) and you’ve got Europe’s best ADV/Dualsport riding.
In the days that lay ahead, I had a week’s worth of intense, dirt riding with a familiar Scottish motorcycle gang.
My friends at rentamotorcycle.co.uk from Edinburgh, Scotland shipped 3 BMW motorcycles down with one mission: Ride Portugal, top to bottom, almost entirely off-road.
If you flip back to Upshift Online’s Issue #27, you’ll know exactly the guys I’m talking about too! The first night in Porto set the tone for what was guaranteed to be some hilarious miles ahead. Joe Philipsz, owner of BMW Motorrad Central/Rentamotorcycle.co.uk would be on the GS Rallye while Martin Williamson (who has been riding every single mile of single-track road in Scotland since childhood) and I were on GS Adventures. I’ve worked with motorcycle rental companies before and I can say, without candy-coating anything, these guys’ team run one of the best rental operations in the world.
This trip was to be the first time that bikes were pulled from the rental fleet and shipped this far south for some serious off-the-beaten-path travel.
While we blazed our own path route through Portugal much of the time, incorporating unique detours to restaurants and accommodations, the general routing was based on the ACT (Adventure Country Tracks.) The ACT is basically Europe’s version of the ever-popular BDR tracks in the United States. It’s a brilliant creation of tracks designed to take you through the best that a country (or state) has to offer; Much of it not-on-pavement. The GPS tracks are provided for free online at www.AdventureCountryTracks.com.
After a couple days of gorging on the most affordable 5-star food I’ve ever had in
Europe, it was time to head out of the hustle and bustle of Porto. The motorcycles arrived at the freight facility in one piece and after bolting on a few of the parts that were removed for shipping, we threw the bags, tools, and camera equipment on the bikes.
We were off. A quick 3-hour drive got us to the old mountain town of Bragança, on the Spanish border in the north of the country.
Anticipating 6 days of gravel, rocks, and rutted road ahead, I let some air pressure out of the tires before hitting the trail. I find that on these heavy bikes, doing so makes a world of difference in handling, traction, and comfort on the non-stop rattling of unpaved-Portugal.
To this day, remains of medieval castles are scattered throughout the country and
riding past these pieces of history is like stepping back in time.
As we continue south, through the backcountry, we continue to transition from high mountain ridgelines to steep river canyons. Ascending and descending; all day long through some of the most beautiful countryside I’ve ever seen.
Throughout the valleys of Portugal, exist some 2,000-year-old arched-bridges that were built while Julius Caesar was still ruling the Roman Empire!
There is no cell-phone service out here. It’s just you, your motorcycle, and the land. I can’t put into perspective how special the feeling is of riding a modern-day, fuel-injected, 1200cc horse across these ancient structures.
As I roll across these Roman bridges, that are still erect and in near-perfect condition thousands of years after their construction, I chuckle inside my helmet as I compare it to failing infrastructure and pothole-riddled roads in some of our 1st World Countries that cost billions to build. You know, like that $23.4 billion, “Big Dig” in Boston that didn’t fix the traffic problem? Maybe today’s engineers should have referenced the stone-and-hammer technology of these ancient bridge builders instead!
Each mile of dirt brings us further south and the motorcycle’s suspension systems work hard to absorb the gravel roads and cobblestone streets of the Portuguese mountains.
As we climb away from the steep river canyon, a few sections of extremely steep, loose, and rutted-out switchbacks require us to hammer on the throttle and abuse the clutch of these heavy machines as we work to maintain a slow-momentum uphill.
Finally, we crest a ridgeline and green grass and wildflowers line each side of the road.
The road starts to descend slowly, getting steeper and steeper before the Douro River comes into view where it flows through Barca d’Alva, Portugal. Just a few hundred meters upstream, at the Spanish border, the river becomes unnavigable so it’s this riverside village that marks the ‘end of the line’ for riverboats coming from and going to Porto or the sea. Being the furthest inland Portuguese town on the Duoro River, the town and the river served as the primary transportation corridor for bringing wine barrels from the mountains to the busy trade routes along the coast. As I roll through, I think to myself, “I should just high-jack a boat full of Port wine and live the simple life out here in these rural mountains…” Boringly, I decide it’s probably in my best interest to just continue on the motorcycle.
One of my favorite aspects of this country is the biodiversity of the terrain. In just mere miles, it feels like entire ecosystems are crossed. High-alpine valleys that mimic the High Rockies in Colorado transition to sandy roads and rock structures that remind me of Arizona. It’s impossible to not feel overstimulated here.
Over the past couple of years, being on the road full-time, almost 70,000 miles have passed underneath me.
It’s places like this that remind me of how much I’ve forgotten; And how much I have yet to see.
As hard as I unsuccessfully try to resist time, the days continue to pass by… From old villages, seemingly stuck in time; Places where donkeys are the primary mode of transportation… To mountain slopes, covered in the modern-advancement of renewable wind energy, the route holds surprises and suspense around every corner. Every single day in the Portuguese backcountry is mind-blowing and it is always capped off with the best, cheap, and affordable dinners in Western Europe. Oh, and did I mention the Portuguese wine yet?!
As the journey approaches the southern reaches of the country, a change of environment is experienced once again. The air gets a bit stickier; a bit heavier, as northern winds bring warm, humid air from the sea, inland. I can feel the excitement building within me as I throttle the motorcycle closer to the ocean. This southern coastal region of Portugal is known as “The Algarve” and I don’t trust anybody who doesn’t love it.
The Algarve is home to small fishing towns, packed with family-owned seafood restaurants and easy-going surfing shops that line the coast. High cliffs overlook crashing waves below. From Sagres, through Faro, to the Spanish border: This place is one of my favorites in Europe.
These adventure-ready motorcycles were pulled straight from the Rent-A-Motorcycle showroom floor. They took an absolute beating over the course of 5 days without whimpering once. The suspension, for hours at a time, repeatedly compressed to capacity, bulldozing through everything put in their path. Ever since learning to ride, I always try to end each successful motorcycle trip with some appreciation for the machines that made it possible. It’s okay to just stare awkwardly at a motorcycle and reminisce about the places that it brought you, right?
We arrived at the terminus of the Portugal ACT in the Southern city of Tavira at around 4pm. After 5 exhausting days, a coastal sunset never looked so good.
The journey wasn’t over yet though. The motorcycles needed to be returned to Porto. Since our travels had taken us through the mountains, entirely inland, it would be a sin to neglect Portugal’s coastline on the return. With only 2 days to cover the same amount of ground that took 5 on the way down, the pace was picked up and asphalt roads lead the way north.
Portugal’s capital and busiest city, Lisbon, is worth the stop. In “Old Town,” steep cobblestone streets weave between storefronts that are 6 centuries old. If you don’t feel like walking, you can park the moto and hop on one of Lisbon’s famous trolley cars for a city tour. Northeast of Lisbon lies a true gem: Sintra-Cascais Natural Park. It’s one of the best places in Europe to catch the sunset and the twisty roads leading to it will not disappoint.
Ericeira, 1.5 hours north of Lisbon (if you take back-roads) is a fantastic overnight destination on the return to Porto. It reminds me a bit of Santa Cruz, California. It is a surf-mecca during the day, but once the sun goes down, the bars, restaurants, and night-life come alive! Man, do I love this country!
From Ericeira, I recommend taking the coast all the way back to Porto where you’ll pass must-see towns like Peniche which is built entirely on a jagged rock-peninsula. Further to the north lies Nazaré and is home to some of the biggest waves on the planet! Don’t believe me? Just Google some images of this place!
Like every great adventure, through every great country, there comes a time to say goodbye, and as I pulled back into Porto, that time had come.
The last week had reaffirmed to me why Portugal holds its position as one of my favorite, most affordable (and delicious) European destinations.
Here’s a tidbit of “leaked” information to spark your adventure appetite: Rent-A-Motorcycle/BMW Motorrad Scotland is in the process of working out the logistics behind providing rental motorcycles for journeys like this one. Once this is worked out, it will make them one of the companies in Europe willing to offer motorcycles and insurance for dualsport use. Keep your eyes peeled for future details on this opportunity! Until the next adventure… Ride safe!
