Ribeirinha is a quiet corner of the Coa valley, and the interest of the place is the whole valley rather than one spot. Along some seventeen kilometres of the Coa River, the schist cliffs carry thousands of engravings from the Upper Palaeolithic, drawn by people who hunted across this landscape twenty thousand years ago and more. Three main sites are open to visitors, Penascosa, Canada do Inferno and Ribeira de Piscos, and each has a different character, set in different bends of the river. The valley is a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with the open-air engravings at Siega Verde in Spain, which lie over the border in the province of Salamanca.
The landscape is the Portuguese interior at its most appealing, a high, hot, thinly peopled country of granite and schist, holm oak, cork and broom. The valley itself is cut deep into the plateau, with steep slopes of rock and scrub dropping to the river, and in spring the hillsides turn gold with broom and white with cistus. Griffon vultures and Bonelli's eagles circle on the thermals. The river, the Coa, runs north to meet the Douro and is a quiet, clear stream in summer.
The riding around Ribeirinha is the point. Country roads connect small villages of grey stone, and the curves are sharp and frequent, with fast, open stretches across the plateau. Traffic is sparse, so you may ride for half an hour without meeting a car. The surface is variable, with smooth asphalt and patched sections, and the occasional goat or tractor appears around a corner. Spring and autumn are the best seasons. Summer temperatures often exceed forty degrees, and winter nights are cold, with frost on the high ground.
Vila Nova de Foz Coa is the nearest large town, about twelve kilometres away, with fuel, a supermarket and restaurants. Meda, to the south, is smaller, with basic services. Almond and olive oil are local products, and the area has a reputation for good bread and roast meat. If you want to visit the engravings, book a guided tour at the Coa Museum in Foz Coa, where the guides take small groups to the sites.
Stay for the evening if you can. When the heat fades, the valley fills with golden light, and the cliffs seem to glow.