Cabo da Roca is the westernmost point of mainland Europe, a wind-scoured headland where the Sintra mountains run straight into the Atlantic and stop. The cliffs rise some 140 metres above the water, topped with a squat white lighthouse that has been working since the eighteenth century, and a stone monument carries a line from the poet Luís de Camões, who described this as the place where the land ends and the sea begins. There is something genuinely humbling about it, standing in a cold gale with nothing but ocean in front of you, though the tourist crowds have rather broken the spell by midday.
The ride in is part of the pleasure. From Sintra the road climbs through eucalyptus and cork oak into the hills, passing quiet villages and then opening onto a bare, heathy plateau. Along the coast, the N247 runs north and south with bends that are open but often sandy, and the wind can be violent, with gusts strong enough to move a loaded bike across the lane. Fog off the sea can swallow the cliffs in minutes, particularly in summer, and sometimes the whole peninsula is clear while Sintra's palaces sit in cloud. Go early, before the tour buses arrive, or late in the evening, when the sun drops into the sea.
Colares, a few kilometres away, is worth a stop in its own right. Its vineyards grow in deep sand, and because the phylloxera pest cannot live in sand, they were never grafted, which makes them some of the last ungrafted vines in Europe. The wine is tannic and demanding but has a devoted following. Nearby Azenhas do Mar, a village of whitewashed houses spilling down a cliff to a tidal swimming pool, is among the most photogenic places on the coast.
Fill the tank in Colares, Cascais or Sintra. Bring a windproof jacket whatever the season, because the cape is exposed and cold even on bright days.