Every year in the dark days of February I spend evenings scouring brochures and the internet trying to sort out the family summer holiday.

This year was no different and I finally settled on a two week trip to Portugal in late July/early August. Now the family holiday usually means a holiday from biking. However it was only after everything was booked that someone mentioned to me that the Sintra hills north of Lisbon were becoming known as an excellent mountain biking destination. After a bit of research it was easy to see the appeal, proximity to a big city, fine weather most of the year and a large wooded national park area combined with a rugged Atlantic coast line. Maybe this year I could sneak some riding in.
A quick check with my other half at a carefully selected moment and I had the green light to do a couple of days riding. After some further research I found Sintra Bike a company that run week long biking holidays around Sintra. A quick phone call to Dennis (an Englishman) who runs Sintra Bike and he kindly agrees to book me in for a couple of days riding that would showcase the area.

So it was that I found my self leaving the Quinta I was staying in early on the Saturday morning of my family holiday fully kitted up and not know what to expect. I realised that I had never been mountain biking outside Britain before and wondered, no maybe worried, about such things as how much climbing I’d have to do, how technical the trails would be and last but not least would I melt in the heat. I was picked up by Manuel my guide for the day and driven to the Terratotal bike shop in Colares where a nice shiny Specialized Epic was waiting.

A quick bit of faffing while my pedals were fitted and we were off. A blast along the road, a quick right turn and suddenly we were already climbing. The road turns from tarmac to cobblestones and finally to dirt track as we climb through the upper reaches of the town before entering the forest and the hills proper.

The weather early on isn’t as hot as I’d expected, starting off a bit cloudy and at the height we were the wind was pretty strong. The trails though are totally dry and dusty. This made the bike handling very loose particularly at speed in the corners. Ironically and in complete contrast to my local trails on the South Downs, Manual tells me that after rain the surface in the Sintra hills firms up and become more predictable. Though by the sound of things they get much less rain than we get sun.

We continue along alternating between climbing mostly on fire roads and descending on both fire roads and some sweet singletrack. The fire roads are very worn in places and despite being wide, are technical when climbing and descending. The singletrack is fantastic, with ruts, roots and plenty of rock drop offs. Those wanting a more extreme challenge should find it here too, as we passed some frankly frightening North Shore trails and spotted a group of fully armoured riders driving up the hill in a van.

Some of the climbs were tough but the rewards made it all worth while .The scenery is awesome, with new sights to behold round every corner. One minute we’d be passing some rocky outcrops with views all the way down to the Atlantic. The next we’d be looking across to the royal palaces on the hill tops in Sintra. After one particularly flowing section of singletrack we popped out at a beautiful lake hidden in the middle of the forest. All too soon we had completed our circuit and we were coasting along the road back to the bike shop tired but elated.

After the ride we return to the shop bike shop where Dennis is waiting to take us to lunch. Joining us for lunch will be George who is the landlord of the Terratotal bike shop’s building. George drives the four of us to lunch in his vintage Fiat 500, which is an experience in itself since the restaurant is back up the hills and the old Fiat struggles with the effort of hauling four full grown men. I think George is only half joking when puts his foot out the drivers door to slow the vehicle at one point. The restaurant is the aptly named “Refuge De Cyclistes”. The food here is fantastic consisting of fish or meat barbecued on a huge charcoal pit served with jugs of local wine. We all plump for the sardines and eating these washed down with the local wine seems like a perfectly civilised way to top off a cracking days riding.

It was a dismal day for a ride in the Welsh hills. We pulled on waterproof jackets and started out into the light rain.

I seemed a long way uphill and constantly wiping glasses became an irritant. Although it rained lightly and constantly it was warm enough to make your jackets steam. The trail drained well but some of the stone sections felt quite slippery as tyres squirmed on the surface water. The condition surprised us but probably reflects the maintenance work over the winter; it was firm, consistent and without breaks where the erosion is pulling the trail base apart.

Trying to push some of the single track sections it was easy to find the limit of both the front and rear tyres and the only sensible choice was to ease off a little. We rode everything as it came until we hit the rock garden towards the end where we took a couple of attempts to overcome the roots and the larger rock obstacles. It looked like the local line went between two rocks but four attempts failed to keep to that line. Alec missed the local line but had sufficient momentum to reach a rock crest and pop his front wheel over at ninety degrees. Casually balancing he turned his front wheel and dropped off his escarpment. I can vouch that he used all of the travel on his forks and the rear shock on his Truth was completely compressed. Bounding over  rocks like a trials rider might not be the intended application for this particular Ellsworth but the frame did not flex and he held his line and rode off.

I had intended to take some photographs of this particular point and had assumed that we would be there for a while but his mix of pleasure and relief at getting through this section in the wet conditions meant that it seemed churlish to ask him to return and repeat his feat of balancing. I admit to trying myself one more time but failed to match his accomplishment ,but I will return. Only if it is dry.

The last descent I allowed the Nomad to find its own line and flew over the rocks and lumps with the bike saving me, time and again, from my own limitations. This was the intended application of this bike and made all the uphill efforts worthwhile.

Five runs were enough for me for a weekend and I returned to the car park and a shower. Clean,hot and five minutes for a pound. I bought some lunch in the cafe before driving home and was struck by the difference between the two cafes. The old one is adequate but the newer one  at Glencorrwg is great.

As for accommodation we all stayed at the Green Lanterns which is close enough to the centres to drive in a few minutes and has a full restaurant on site. Staff were friendly, rooms were comfortable and clean, restaurant portions were good with prices around twelve pounds for a main course. The breakfast was included and the portions were ideal for a hungry mountain biker. I will go back and recommend them for you to try.

A great weekend and if you have never been, and are a good mountain biker ,then buy some pads and head for the hills.

Photos

It’s 10am Saturday 24th May, and I find myself setting off on the bike to meet a couple of familiar faces and a bunch of new folk that have been persuaded to come along, convinced that they will enjoy the riding of my local trails in St Leonards and Tilgate forests. The sun is beginning to break through the cloud as I gradually pedal up to the meeting point on a dry and dusty track. Continue reading →