This post recounts the tenth day of my Portugal End to End cycle tour with Peak Tours in May 2023. Read Day 9: Vila Viçosa to Moura

The courtyard of the hotel was an ideal place to get bikes and riders ready for our penultimate day. It looked like one of the easier rides, although it didn’t turn out like that.

We had a surprise early on: guide Sam raced ahead of us on his bike, and took photos of us. (The guide on a bike is usually at the back.)

The first session of the day was as straightforward as expected. We had our final incursion into Spain, and enjoyed spotting the time change on our Garmins once again. This was a lovely section of road, twisting and turning. I was at the front of our group at that point, and for once set a brisk pace.

We had a drag uphill to pass back into Portugal for the final time on this tour. Morning brew was for once chosen for convenience rather than beauty. It was the only time on the trip that we saw litter strewn about the side of the road.

Within a mile or so, we stopped to admire the border town of Vila Verde Ficalho. We admired the beautiful purple-flowered trees in the square, and the musical birds.

The session from here was an ordeal. What should have been an easy ride, especially after nine days, was confounded by the worst road surfaces of the tour and a vicious headwind. It reminded me of a similarly miserable stage of the Highland 500 to Durness last year. At times I cycled on my own, taking breaks to ease the grind. Julia caught me up and we finally reached the lunch stop, which, rather than the billed picnic, was a morale-boosting hot meal with chips. I also ordered a coffee to provide a caffeine boost this afternoon.

A group of us pressed on after lunch, and we made good time despite the headwind. The road surface had improved as well.

We needed no persuading to stop for a drink and ice cream at this lovely roadside cafe in the intriguing old mining village of São Domingos Mine. Here, Kevin retold his extraordinary tale from his time living in Perth, Western Australia, in the 1980s. (You’ll have to ask him…) This mining town was once run by a British company, which proved as harsh an employer as any Welsh mining baron. After the mines closed in 1965 the area was transformed: the lake we passed was created from the wasteland left from mining extraction.

The final few miles were a thrilling descent to our destination, Mértola. Frustratingly, my GoPro stopped saving clips by this point, so I don’t have the recording of that exhilarating ride. But this is the bridge we took over the Guadiana river as we approached town.

I had a nice room at the Hotel Beira Rio, including a terrace with this view over the river. I could have held a party there, but instead it proved a useful place to dry my last set of washing of the tour.

Like so many of the places we visited, Mértola has an ancient history. The Phoenicians used it as a river port, and the Romans and Moors followed. The castle’s keep was built by the Moors, and this was an Islamic town for a time. This region, the southern Alentejo, apparently provides half the world’s entire supply of cork. We got through a modest pile of the local product during our time in Portugal and Spain.

Despite the history and glorious setting, we found Mértola rather disappointing. It felt a bit down at heel, with a few derelict buildings and a selection of sad looking restaurants. Even the castle, usually the pride of any Portuguese town, was blighted by mesh fencing and litter. So Julia, Janet and I decided that the open terrace outside our hotel was the best venue for the evening. So while others went in search of somewhere to eat, we nursed a beer or two and enjoyed an alfresco meal overlooking the river. For the second night running we made the right choice.

Read Day 11: Mértola to Tavira (the final stage)

The day’s stats

66.3 miles, 2,944 feet climbing, 5 hours 21 mins cycling, average speed 12.4 mph.

The day’s highlights video