This post recounts the sixth day of my Portugal End to End cycle tour with Peak Tours in May 2023. Read day 5: Belmonte to Monsanto

It’s a lot easier to leave Monsanto that to arrive, at least by bike. After negotiating the cobbles we were soon freewheeling down the hill past last night’s restaurant, following a rubbish cart.

After five tough first days, today was a delight from start to finish. Once we had finished the descent from Monsanto we had a fast section of road, with views of the mountains that we had skirted yesterday. There were plenty of wild flowers by the roadside, which make cycling in Portugal a visual delight.

Brew stop this morning was at Zebreira, after 20 easy miles and over half way to our destination at Alcántara over the border in Spain.

Alec took advantage of the outdoor gym to have a short rehab ride on a stationary bike. He will be back on the road tomorrow.

I loved the next stretch of our ride. The sun was shining, the kilometres were slipping by and we were heading for Spain. I cherished an evocative moment when we passed through a wood with birds singing loudly above us. (You can see and hear this on the day’s highlights video at the end of this post.)

Just like on day 4, we were in holiday mood and decided to stop for a coffee at the border town of Seguro. (Peak Tours’ route notes highlighted the village’s ‘quaint higgledy piggledyness’!) The cafe was closed, but one of the group persuaded the kindly cafe owner to make coffee for us. He later delighted in pointing out our upcoming incursions into Spain on the map on Keith’s Peak Tours top!

It was now just a short hop to the border, on a much-rebuilt Roman bridge over the river Erges. We made the most of this milestone on a very quiet road. Garmins, watches and phones suddenly switched to Spanish time.

We climbed steadily but comfortably for the first five miles or so in Spain, under bright, sunny skies. It was an unusual feeling knowing that we’d have a free afternoon.

As we approached our destination, the road swept down towards the old Roman bridge that gave Alcántara its original, Arabic name, al-Qanṭarah – the bridge…

The bridge has been repeatedly destroyed and damaged over the centuries. The Duke of Wellington’s forces blew it up in 1809 to try to stop Napoleon’s army during the Peninsular war. No one obstructed our graceful crossing. Sadly the views of the river Tagus here have been blighted by the usual brutalist concrete dam so favoured by the Spanish and Portuguese.

The last climb of the day, up to the town, was straightforward, and we were soon enjoying lunch in a cafe in the town’s square, before reaching our hotel, the impressive former convent, Hospederia Conventual de Alcántara.

I took advantage of the free afternoon to wash my cycling clothes, and relished being off the bike. Later, we had dinner in a wonderful room with high ceilings graced by the presence of our bikes. It reminded me of a work Christmas dinner at London’s Science Museum, under the shadow of Alcock and Brown’s historic 1919 Vickers Vimy bomber, the first aircraft to cross the Atlantic. (Not that my bike is quite as significant!)

I was in a mellow mood after dinner, and created a playlist of songs for times on the ride when I’m cycling on my own. I added songs that time had rightly forgotten, from the Sixties, Seventies and Eighties, including a few ‘earworm’ tracks that played in my mind over the past few days. Where did Best Years of Our Lives (1982: Modern Romance) come from? I will never know.

Read Day 7: Alcántara to Marvão

The day’s stats

38.78 miles, 2,263 feet climbing, 3 hours 8 mins cycling, average speed 12.4 mph.

The day’s highlights video