Pico Island rises out of the Atlantic in the central Azores as a single enormous volcano, and its summit, at about 2,351 metres, is the highest point in Portugal. It is a country of black lava, small stone-walled fields and a sea that is always close, with the great cone usually wrapped in cloud above you.
The vineyards are the island's most remarkable feature. Over centuries, farmers cleared the harsh, rough basalt and used the stones to build thousands of tiny walled plots, called currais, to shelter vines from salt wind and sea spray. The result is a grid of black stone rectangles running down to the shoreline, with small windmills and old stone houses among them, and it is recognised as a World Heritage landscape. The wine made here, particularly the white Verdelho, was exported to the courts of Europe, including, so the story goes, the Russian tsars, in the nineteenth century, until disease destroyed most of the vines. The work of the vineyards is still done mostly by hand.
The riding is slow, rewarding and deeply different from the mainland. The ring road runs around the island, with tight bends, short climbs and sudden views of the sea and the neighbouring island of Faial, and a series of smaller roads climbs from the coast toward the mountain through pasture and forest of Japanese cedar and laurel. Rain and fog come quickly, and the black basalt is slippery when wet, so keep your speed down in villages where the road is paved with old cobbles. Cows are herded along the roads, and the verges are lined with hydrangeas in summer.
Madalena, the largest town on the island, has fuel, shops and a ferry connection to Faial, and São Roque and Cais do Pico have basics. The stations can be far apart on the quieter sides of the island, so top up when you pass one. Fresh fish, limpets and the island's sweet bread are the local pleasures, and a glass of local wine in a small tavern is easy to find.