Our guide had disappeared. He slipped away as we were distracted by the river flowing beneath the 800-year-old bridge where we had parked our bikes. Its cobbled stones and deep arches once formed the border between Portugal and Spain. Moments later, he reappeared around 20 metres away, squatting on top of a boulder on the other side of the river.
Crouched down over the rock, Sammuel pointed to an unusually flat section of the stone and brushed back the mud to reveal a mathematical diagram of the bridge, likely carved when the landmark was being constructed during the 13th century. A recent wildfire has burnt away enough of the nearby vegetation to make the drawing clear and accessible once again.
We were roughly 48 hours into our tour of the Côa Valley in the North of Portugal and had met the river for the first time. We’d been taking things slow.
Founded by cyclist Oli Broom after he spent 412 days pedalling from the UK to Australia, the Slow Cyclist promises to do things differently. The e-bike tour company specialises in journeys worth taking the time for and, on the most rugged routes, connecting attendees with local guides at 13 locations across the globe. Ranging from trips past smoking volcanoes and mountain gorillas in Rwanda to the forests and meadows of Transylvania, the luxury travel company allows explorers to travel at their own pace, dining in local homes or by secluded picnic tables.
Following a two-and-a-half-hour drive into one of the Iberian Peninsula’s most unexplored regions on our first day, it became clear to the 12 of us visiting that Portugal would feel like home. Once under the fortress-like cliff which guards the historic village of Sorthelha we discovered we would have the place completely to ourselves and had already been assigned our own stone cottage for the evening.
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Home comforts quickly followed as we were treated to a tapas dinner on top of a repurposed church door-turned dining table, surrounded by furniture that our host had collected from her grandmother’s home or from a nearby train station.
Over the course of the next five days we drifted along cobbled paths, enjoying a landscape strewn with vast boulders along the nearly abandoned tributary of the Douro River, the Côa, as vultures and golden eagles circled above.
Tucked away, hidden from the popular cruise ships and wine tours of the Douro, we took the scenic route through the region, moving through oak forests, rocky heathlands and hilltop villages.
During our numerous coffee stops, locals open up their living rooms and transform them into makeshift restaurants and bars. The trip takes farm-to-table dining to the extreme, and we often see the farms and fields from which our meals came.
During one of our final lunches, our host picks pomegranates from the tree that’s sheltering us from the sun and serves them with our dessert.
Hours were spent chatting away the day, drinking port made by our guide’s neighbours and families as we learnt about what life was like in the region and efforts to rewild the valley.
Until the 13th century, this historically rich region was the fought-over border between Spain and Portugal, but it is now home to one of Europe's largest and most fascinating rewilding projects. During a visit to the private Faia Brava nature reserve, we saw where wolves and the Iberian lynx will hopefully return.
On another outing, one of our guides described how even Aurochs, an ancient species of mega cows that were hunted to extinction by 1627, may also be bred back into existence and returned to the region.
Thanks to the turbo setting on my e-bike, I can not tell you how hilly the area is. The usual breathlessness and lycra of a cycling trip are stripped away by the powerful batteries on the Slow Cyclist’s e-bikes.
The bikes are more closely related to a Land Rover than a Lime Bike, meaning age is not a barrier on the travel company’s trips. Our guides even point out that they have had cyclists in their 80s on the dirt paths before.
At 27, I’m at least a generation younger than my fellow travellers, yet still find myself close to the back of the group at times as the adventurers amongst us are powered up rugged gorges and on sandy trails.
The best kept secrets of the Côa valley are left until the very last moments and under the cover of darkness. Those of us still able to stand after one final feast waddled to the car to travel down dark twisting roads with only headlights guiding us to one of Europe’s oldest art galleries.
Stretched along 30km of the Côa sit thousands of rock paintings depicting animal figures carved over several millennia. The active archaeological site saved the nearby valley from being flooded and transformed into a dam.
Guided by torchlight, we were shown dozens of drawings of Ibris and Aurochs hidden in the rock face which are believed to be over 22,000 years old. Once again we’re left amazed by when you scratch below the surface and what Portugal has to offer.
The Slow Cyclist offers a five-night journey through Portugal’s Côa River from £2,995 per person. Find out more about their trips here.
