Discovery of Ribatejo

It´s the second time that I go for central Portugals interior. After Alentejo (Lisbon - Evora - Beja - Algave) last year, now I want to to go a bit more north to Ribatejo and Serra de Aire. My feeling is the same: Not a lot to see, but a lot to miss!

The exit of Lisbon could be so easy. Up the Tejo valley you reach the province in a couple of hours without any bigger uphills. But there´s no way to go from Lisbon to the north without doing the great cliffs of Ericeira. So I leave Lisbun just to Cabo da Roca the first evening. Instead of a lonesome night in the rocks, I find myself drinking beer and chatting with a dutch cycling Portugal on a folding bike. He´s wondering about the foggy and chilly weather.For me it´s not surprisingly. It´s north side of Serra de Sintra, if the weather is not bad here, nowhere in Portugal it is.

Not at least because of this late night conversation I get up late the next morning. It´s still cloudy and I can't wait to head off north. As the trails up north this time are only the beginning, I decide for a straight line. I skippe some exhausting and borrowing parts and only went for the most fun ones: Praia do Magoito and Praia do Porto Chao. That way I reach Ericeira in the early afternoon. Meanwhile, sun came out and I´m happy to have a cool drink and fill up my reserves here. After a last ride along the cliffs north of Ericeira I slightly turnd inland.

 

A small dusty trail behind Ribamar and Sao Lorenco brings my away from the coast and close to Torres Vedras, a charming province town, as most of the portuguese villages towered of a castle, what unfortunately is already closed on my arrival. I can´t exactly say what causes this coast mentality but Torres Vedras, 30 km away from the cost still got it. As I wanted to go to the interior I decide to speed up from now on. I follow the road north-east to leave the coast behind. Instead of lemon and eucalyptus trees olive trees and wine yards take place in the landscape now.

It´s already midday of the second day when I reach Serra de Montejunto. From it´s bottom I see a road all along the mountain on half of it´s height. A car is passing the road what cause a huge dust cloud and I knew that I have to go up there! Just in time, a farmer pass by on a donkey, the perfect source for a dirt trail up the mountain. About 30 minutes later I arrive, sweating and gasping for air, on the top of the pass. Serra de Montejunto is a single rock in the flat landscape. The steep slope offers great views to the surrounding valleys full of grapes. Strong wind is blowing. With my wet shirt in the strong wind even 30° I feel bitterly cold this moment. After a small break it´s time to go on. On the road I saw from far I surround the mountain from it´s west to it´s east before I turn downhill on a rocky singletrail that suddenly appeared on my right.

The same afternoon I reach Santarem and with that the Tejo Valley. Coming from south-east Santarem is not very invitingly. High apartment buildings, industry and commercial domain the view already from far. Only after the steep uphill to the historic city visitors can see the beaty of the Santarem: the historic market hall, open green squares small lanes and the view from the high walls down to river Tejo. It´s Saturday afternoon and the whole town is sleepy. After an iced coke, a short coffee and a chat with a 65-years old recumbent biker, I´m ready to go on. The flat valley permits now to go ahead dozens of km in the evening sun. In the beginning I use unpaved roads through the grapes but fastly I decide to use the quiet but asphalted roads to spare time and energy. After other 30 km I reach Golegas. The self called "Capital of horses" evidently lives from tourists passing through on their way to Santago de Compostela, and it lives good with that. After a few tiny but iced beers I fall in sleep with the view to my final destination: Serra de Aires.

Similarly to Serra de Montejunto also this national park is a single rock in the landscape, just much bigger. On it´s arrival comes with 3 little hills like waives in the landscape. Unpaved short cuts from one village to the next one are a welcome change after so much asphalt and brings me quickly to the foot of the mountain. From the last of the three hills I see a dirt road going straight up the mountain on it´s east side. So I decide to go there. Quickly the first bikers appear from the forrest and race down the valley. 20% uphills and the high noon heat turns every meter into a challenge. After half an hour the road stops to climb and turns left and slightly downhill. I´m still not ready to go down, so I decide to go for one of the smaller paths uphill. After a little while I find mtb-race indication painted on the way and fixed on the trees. But unfortunately in the opposite direction. This turned into a problem when the path switched to a narrow singletrail. While pushing the bike up the mountain I feel an old pain in my knee, so I knew that the end of the weekend is near. But such a trail! Found by causality? That´s destiny! The way is getting steeper, more and more drops block the way. I can't ride the trail uphill anymore, but I can examine the trail and stick in mind the best line to ride it down later. I ride the last part up to the peak from there I have a 360° view around the mountain.

I have an extended break enjoy the view from the last peak of the weekend. Then it´s finally time to go downhill! Beginning on the top with loos boulders continued by some middle deep drops, reaching the forrest with technical snaky line to come down with some smaller jumps over ingrown walls to be back on the main road I came from. An amazing trail and a highlight of the weekend. Big up, BTT-crew Spinheiros!