This post recounts the fourth day of my Portugal End to End cycle tour with Peak Tours in May 2023. Read day 3: the Douro to Freixinho

Our overnight old convent provided a suitably grand venue for a pre-ride breakfast. I wasn’t very organised today, and as everyone else was riding off realised that I hadn’t loaded the route on my Garmin. So I was cycling on my own for most of the first 19 miles to Trancoso.

This was a curiously unsatisfying session.The route followed a dull, main road and I was slowed by a headwind. It got better after I turned off the main road onto a lane through woods and with boulders strewn across the landscape – a feature of northern Portugal. I caught up a few of the others at this stage.

We had a steep climb into Trancoso, which proved an enchanting place, with castle and square inside the town walls. What a lovely place for brew stop! We were surprised to see a male cyclist with a bare chest – but quickly established it wasn’t one of ours!

The session that followed from Trancoso to lunch was my favourite of the ride so far. I was in a group that included Julia, Dave, Tim and Peter, and we were soon skirting the castle and descending for miles, exhilarated by the fast progress after days of climbing.

In holiday mood, we decided to stop for a coffee at a village bar in Aldeia Rica, as seen above, before resuming our fast ride through lovely countryside, spotting signs for Espanha (Spain) at a roundabout. We would ourselves weave in and out of Spain over the coming six days.

Lunch was a relaxing one at Cortelha da Burra, before the serious climbing of the day began.

This was a lovely moment, as we were cheered over the bridge that marked the start of the seven mile climb. Once again, I took my time, catching the others up at a dam about half way up the climb.

I was pleased to get to the summit – and thought my climbing this afternoon better than over the first few days. But I was also finding that I was cycling better in the afternoons after a good lunch. There’s a lesson there – eat better at breakfast!

Our reward for that long climb was one of my favourite descents of the whole tour. It was a thrilling ride, twisting and turning, with views out towards our destination, Belmonte. We expected to see the final brew stop any moment, but it was a few miles later than billed. The view was worth it!

After descending through the village of Goncalo, we joined the main road towards Belmonte. I was on a mission at this point and almost sprinted along, delighting in my progress. Before long, I was beginning the steep climb to Belmonte, a fascinating hill town that was an enclave for Portuguese and Spanish Jews called Marranos, who were forced to convert to Christianity but continued to observe their true faith in secret.

When we arrived in Belmonte, we heard that Alec had suffered a freak accident within metres of our hotel. He had been admiring one of the town’s striking roundabout artworks, failed to notice a very narrow drainage channel at the side of the road and took a dramatic tumble. He will be off the bike for the next couple of days.

I had a massage booked before dinner, hoping that this would give the same benefits as the treatment I received at the end of the sixth day of my Land’s End to John O’Groats ride in 2019. (I saw no cycling benefits as it turned out, although it was very relaxing!)

Read Day 5: Belmonte to Monsanto

The day’s stats

65.21 miles, 5,619 feet climbing, 5 hours 59 mins cycling, average speed 10.9mph.

The day’s highlights video