Portugal 26th Oct to 10th Nov 2013

Not enough time for Greece so have settled on Portugal, arriving at Santander on 26th Oct. Considering going via the Picos and ending in Seville, but other than that have no route planned. We will be leaving the truck in an Orchard near Seville and will return for it in January.

Would appreciate any advice on routes/camp sites/wild camping/restaurants and anyone interested in joining us for all or part. We are in a fully equipped 80 series land cruiser with a roof tent, so we pack up every day regardless (i.e. staying in one place is no advantage), but will avoid cooking where possible. I cycled in Portugal for 2 weeks in July and found costs very reasonable.

Is wild camping legal in Portugal?

Hi
I’m more than glad to help you with whatever info you need on Portugal.
Let me know your ideas: are you a first timer in Portugal? What you want to see, how much off road you want to do, do you prefer mountain or see, rural areas or cities, etc.

Answering your question, wild camping in Portugal is illegal!! Nevertheless I’ve been doing it for 30 years : Shame on me I’m a criminal!
If you wild camp/park in known beach or on a mountain near a traveled road police may bother you. If you wild camp in the “wild” no harm will come to you.
Please be advised that in October/November can be quite cold and rainy at night.

Camp sites in Portugal are relatively cheap and most of them offer warm water, decent wc facilities, bungalows etc.

Regards

Hi

I cycled from Porto to Lisbon in July and from Lisbon to Seville a few years ago, but not actually driven anywhere. I am mainly interested in mountains and also the Duaro area, but realise that the weather in October/November could be worse than on the coast so really depends on how we get on.

I have only recently considerred Portugal and have had very little time to do any research, I've heard the Braganca area is good (mabe throgh the Duaro area to the coast and back inland?) but I am open to suggestions for routes, however varied, down to Seville.

The objective is to stay on regular roads (that have vehicles on them occasionally) with as little tarmac as possible. It is very much an overland vehicle so no risky stuff.

If we come your way maybe we could buy you a beer in a nearby bar?

Hi
Let me thinks about a trip to recommend you and let me see what gps tracks I have that I can send you.

Mainly I would say enter from bragança, go down the Douro, take a quick tour on Serra da Estrela, come down the river Tejo to Lisbon (or near) and go down to Sagres via the coast. Cross the Algarve to spain by the mountain and that’s it.

Intrepidfor10minutes wrote:

If we come your way maybe we could buy you a beer in a nearby bar?

You can bet on it. My advices will be very expensive in "beer coin"  

I’m currently out of the country but I will be able to join you on the weekend of 2/3 and show you some nice spots.

Regards

You will be very well advised by Tito. He has a countless tracks all over Portugal in his library.
And he his an experienced offroader.
Depending on the day, I'll be more than happy to join you for a drink!

Thanks Tito

I will make sure I bring plenty of beer vouchers with me. Meeting up on 2/3 would be suprb, just let me know where.

Can you advise some good maps that have the tracks on? I have a small Garmin (60CSX) and an old Tom Tom (which took me all the way to the Mongolian border across Russia, including fwe tracks) but I still like to use maps. I tend to put a few way points in the garmin to keep me on track and the track back is useful if you get lost (I used it to find my mobile phone that had dropped out of my pocket on a walk in Spain).

Jorge - I might have cycled past your house in July, we camped at San Martinho do Porto on the way down to Lisbon, keeping mainly to the coast roads.

Cruiser is now going in for a few repairs and an Intercooler and hopefully my new passport will arrive in time! I am not going to book the ferry until I get my passport, and if that dosn't work we will just drive down.

Hi Again

Maps of portugal with tracks, the best you can get is Topo Lusitania for Garmin

Send me a PM with your email adress. I have a few tracks selected to send you.
Cost: a beer per track:cheers1: 

Jorge and I will be more than happy to join you.

Regards

Passport arrived this morning! Amazing as it only left the local post office at 17.20 last Tuesday!

Better not send too many tarcks or we might all fall over! We Could be there for days!

Call me old fassioned but can you suggest any paper maps?

Intrepidfor10minutes wrote:

Call me old fassioned but can you suggest any paper maps?

For future references, paper maps be best you can find are the military maps printed by the portuguese army at 1/25000. Again I only have them in files, not in papper.

I will email you with details