Why this ride
A natural corridor of river bends, cliffs and historic settlements. It also links naturally to Alto Douro Wine Region.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Douro N222
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 84 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 1 h 20
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Access context
Check wildfire closures, heat and local road works. Specific flag: seasonal traffic.
Seasonal context
Mar-Nov
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Peso da Régua
Régua sits on the south bank of the Douro river, a working town of about five thousand people, and it is the capital of the oldest demarcated wine region in the world. In 1756 the Marquis of Pombal, the chief minister of Portugal, set the borders of the Port wine district to protect quality and prices, and the steep schist hillsides terraced with vines around the town have been cultivated for centuries. The landscape, with stone walls rising in steps from the river, was listed by UNESCO in 2001 as an example of a cultural landscape shaped by human labour, and it is one of the most beautiful in Europe.
Read the complete Peso da Regua write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Peso da Régua sits at 0 km, early in the day. Next is Vila Nova de Foz Côa.
2. Vila Nova de Foz Côa
In 1991 a young archaeologist named Nelson Rebanda saw something strange on the walls of the Côa valley, a series of animals scratched into the schist cliffs, and the world of prehistory changed. Over the next few years more than a thousand engravings were recorded along the river, of aurochs, horses, ibex and deer, some of them more than twenty thousand years old, making this the largest open-air collection of Palaeolithic art in the world. The images had been under the open sky all that time, with the river flowing past.
Read the complete Vila Nova de Foz Côa write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Vila Nova de Foz Côa comes up 84 km in.