Northern Portugal meander with a Spanish twist

[Jon Wildsmith]

So after much research and planning, @Gary Stockton, our friends Ray & Emma, and myself and Sharon, packed our trucks and set off to find out what all the fuss is about Portugal and 4x4 tracks. We took the ferry from Plymouth on a Sunday evening, arriving in Santander Monday afternoon, and made a mad dash for a camp site just outside Braganca.

Day 1 of 9: 67km driven today.

GPS trace on Wikiloc: 28/05/2024 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

We spent the next morning visiting local stores to stock up on supplies, and then set off to have a lazy afternoon exploring tracks.

The tracks are pretty well surfaced so no real challenge there, but were steep and twisty at times, passing through great scenery that my photography skills don't do justice to.

We found a great spot by a river to stop for a late lunch

and then finished off with a few more tracks - dusty at times.

and then it was back to the campsite for a dip in the pool

To be continued ...

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Day 2 of 9: 92km driven today

GPS trace on Wikiloc: 29/05/2024 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

A pleasant drive winding through wooded areas, up hills and down, with more fantastic scenery.

and then we came to this fantastic old bridge. It's a little narrow at the western end we approached from, but wide enough for our vehicles. We squeezed the vehicles off the track to park by the bothy at the other end and had some lunch here.

More great tracks in the afternoon, a short stop for pictures at a bridge over a gorge, and on to our hotel for the night near the small town of Vimioso.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Day 3 of 9 : 143km driven today

GPS trace on Wikiloc: 30/05/2024 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

Probably one of our best days for interesting tracks and fantastic views and scenery. Many a steep twisty narrow track in the morning kept us entertained

then we found a fantastic river beach we could get the cars onto for a lunch stop

Along our afternoon route, we investigated a track that must have been the old river crossing but has since been replaced by a bigger more modern bridge so the road doesn't have to wind down the hill and back up again. Unfortunately the bridge is blocked off and not a through route.

More steep and twisty tracks lead us to a reservoir

and then we made our way to the nights accommodation, set amongst trees

 

[Soutie]

I really enjoyed your travelogue, great photography. Thank you so much for sharing

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Day 4 of 9: 110km driven today

GPS trace on Wikiloc: 31/05/2024 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

Still a great day for tracks, but this part of the route was a bit more about finding view points of the amazing scenery along this part of the Douro river.

This one, I wondered why there's a steep foot path down towards the water, that stops quite short of the water. Apparently there is ancient rock art down here ...

We stopped in Freixo de Espada a Cinta for snacks and found a fantastic little cafe off the main square. Definitely recommend you give it a try if you're passing through here.

The cafe owner told us we must visit another view point and she wasn't wrong

Then more tracks

There's a very steep, tippy track here, that I backed out of when it got too extreme. Driving around past the other end, it's clearly a foot path, not a road!

Then we were off to another hotel, by Castelo Rodrigo, and had some great wine in a local restaurant.

 

[Soutie]

Great pictures. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Day 5 of 9: 228km driven today

We had a look around the castle ruins, had coffee etc, and then, headed for the coast!

The plan is to spend the next day being proper tourists - spend a bit of time on the beach, explore Aveiro which looked interesting on Google, and just have a rest from driving tracks.

We misjudged this part when planning. It was absolutely heaving with people. The camp site was packed, and it looked like Avios had been in a war zone ... We did find a good space to camp away from everyone else, but it was a noisy night. The beach behind the campsite was fantastic.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Day 6 of 9: 200km driven today

GPS trace on Wikiloc: 02/06/2024 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

So we abandoned the coast and fled back to the central mountains to continue our route a day in hand. The first track was well made and must be used as access to the wind turbines, but after that it got more interesting.

The next section was very overgrown, to the point I couldn't really see what I was driving into.

That lasted for a while and then opened up again

Quick stop at a trig point

had to climb up and stand on top of the trig point!

Found a cool river beach

Dust was an issue sometimes

and some very steep climbs, which the camera won't show ...

Seems I didn't take pictures, but we found an ok camp site, and settled in for the night, only to be kept awake by the owners dogs barking and growling at wild boar all night!

 

[Gav missin]

At least you have the sun. Looks a great trip. My Dad has a place in villa martin near torejveca. Always had it in mind to drive over one day when the kids are a little older. Heading to lake district in the morning laning for the weekend and it doesn't look quite so sunny there. Positively wet at best. Great write up. Got me thinking.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Day 7 of 9: 88km driven today

GPS trace on Wikiloc: 03/06/2024 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

Learning from the tracks we had driven so far, we felt the remaining route we had planned might be a bit boring, so I quickly plotted a more interesting route and we'd have to hope it worked out ... off we go on some very steep climbs at the start.

Seems there must have been a big wild fire last year because all the trees in the area were burnt.

We dropped down into Manteigas for a look at the stream, and found a nice cafe in the town for coffee and cakes.

then headed back into the mountains.

This track didn't work out - it comes to a dead end for vehicles. I walked the last past and it would be a fantastic route, but not for vehicles.

We found a great quiet camp site for this night!

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

At least you have the sun. Looks a great trip. My Dad has a place in villa martin near torejveca. Always had it in mind to drive over one day when the kids are a little older. Heading to lake district in the morning laning for the weekend and it doesn't look quite so sunny there. Positively wet at best. Great write up. Got me thinking.

We were very lucky we had fantastic weather, too hot if anything

 

[felix2566]

Looks an amazing trip, I already want yo go back!

Did you record your routes, would like to follow some of them, they look really great!

 

[Howmanygoes]

BRAVO.
nice trip and a great way to distract me from the magnolia office walls.
Look forward to hearing more around a campfire soon.
Now where's my passport.

 

[fbnss]

That looked awesome !

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

I did record the route and will add them soon, along with the last 2 days.

 

[Gr8Yota]

Amazing photos, thanks for sharing. I’m grounded for indefinite time with poor old Zero so this is the only way to explore for me!

 

[SpinDrift]

Looks like you had a great trip Jon. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Day 8 of 9: 506km driven today

Another change of plan for today - we decided to do the long drive north back towards Santander a day early, so we could spend our extra day driving through the Picos de Europa National Park and have only a short drive to Santander on our last day. A quick look at the map and we chose to head for a camp site overlooking Riano and the reservoir there.

This from the road side, just before we crossed the bridge to Riano

and the rest are some of the views from the campsite

We think the camp site would be packed with units very close together in peak season, but there was plenty of space at this time of year.

 

[Jon Wildsmith]

Day 9 of 9: 107km driven today

GPS trace on Wikiloc: 05/06/2024 - [Leaving Land Cruiser Club]

our last day to explore before we catch the ferry home tomorrow.

The view from our roof tent window in the morning was quite spectacular

We were aiming for Espinama, to pickup the 4x4 track that goes through to Sotres, which seems to be the only track legal to drive. The track is an easy drive on a well made surface which is concrete on the steepest parts.

Fantastic scenery again.

The end

 

[felix2566]

Awesome place to end the trip! We found a good trail just outside the park to the north west which was good fun! Makes me want to go back again!!