Lowri Davies

Portugal: land of crazy roads, steep creeks, umbrellas, boulder gardens, cows with horns? and men with hoes…

Photo: Rob Tuley

Problem:? It seemed an unseasonal drought had hit and virtually? no rain fell in December. Portugal’s rivers are rain fed.? Emails, texts and phone calls bounced about: Was it still worth going? What were the alternatives? Would we just end up having a week of looking at empty ditches, spending lots of money? and drinking lot of? port? Five of us (Tom Laws, Patrick Clissold, Rob Tuley, Theo and myself)? decided to? keep faith and? hit the gamble button.

My adventure started with a crazy 48-hours of driving. Little did I know this would set a precident for plenty more crazy driving throughout the week. At least my journey from Ruthin to Bangor (stopping off for a run of the Nantygwyryd) to Aberystwyth to Sheppards Bush to Cambridge and finally? to Stansted involved roads wider than one VW Polo and generally no cliffs to fall off!

The mighty EasyCar. Photo: Lowri Davies

We flew to Porto with Ryanair and picked up our EasyCar (highly recommended as they offer a “zero excess waiver” which is well worth 95 Euros). After stocking up on camping supplies and? watching Thomas-the-Tank in a cafe, we headed north to the first river on our hitlist, the Castro. The guidebook described the run as a “fun park with many waterfalls and toboggans”, suitable for low water only. Ideal! By the time we got there, driving through fog and rain (hurrah!) it was too late to start? paddling we hiked down? the chossy, flat section in hope? of taking a look at the first toboggans. We succeeded only? in getting ourselves drenched and in danger of developing trench foot.? We made camp, cooked up a tasty? feast, popped open the port? and dried ourselves by? a fire. We were now officially? on holiday

Despite being low, the Castro’s fun park description was pretty much on the mark. Sticking our heads over the first horizonline? sparked hollas, woops and smug grins. Theo may have even given an approving nod.

“Yey, Toboggans!” Photo: Tom Laws

The first slides on the Castro.
Photo Sequence: Rob Tuley; Editting: Lowri Davies and Robert Clark

Theo? embarks on yet? another toboggan. Photo: Rob Tuley

Tom on ‘back-breaker’. Photo: Rob Tuley

Near the end of the granite fun park section, there is a portage which involves a big cliff and a deep pool. Tom’s boat landed an awesome McNasty as Patrick threw it down to the guys below, but it landed so flat that his hull split along a previously acquired gouge. The toys almost left the pram. I refer of? course to? my pram, as I realised that I had to follow Tom’s boat and everybody else by jumping off this 10-metre? high cliff.

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Photos: Rob Tuley

The portage? was followed by boulder choked mess, which after fighting our way down for a kilometer or so, we decided to walk out of? to a village about 2km above us while being herded by cows.

Photo: Rob Tuley

Frosty Spanish camping. Photo: Lowri Davies

After a night of frosty camping in Spain, accompanied by a 4am soundtrack of animal noises made by passers-by, we drove to Melgaco where we met Simon Westgarth, a whole bunch of Irish and a couple of local paddlers. They told us of a grade 2 play run, right in town which we could float down in the sunshine and a cheap hostel we could stay in for that night’s New Year festivities.

Playing on the Mihno. Photo: Tom Laws

One of the local paddlers arranged for the 14 of us? foreign scruffy paddler types to join a family in their restaurant for a 6-course meal with more wine, port and? cinnamon shots than you could shake an umbrella at. To bring in the New Year we ate a grape at every clock dong and drank champagne with the locals who chatted to us? in English that was far better than any Portugese we could string together. We were then shown to a basement bar where we drank, waltzed and generally cavorted the night away.

Predictably, New Year’s day involved no paddling. It did, however, involve lots of driving. And a lots of rain.? And almost reversing off a cliff and getting towed back onto the road by a passing 4×4. The boys tried to man up and camp, but torrential rain forced us into a motel.

After so much rain, we were fired up for our next river. To the Cavado! In our previous day of TomTom aided automobiling, we’d found what we belived to be the track leading to the put-in of the river. After an hour of bush-wacking, bramble-wading, chimney-sweeping and terrace-scaling we guessed that it? may not have been the track the guidebook had discribed. Our perseverance paid off; the ensuing? slides and waterfalls feeling all the better having earned them.

We walked from the top of the line of telegraph poles.? It was hard work!
Photo: Rob Tuley

At one point it did look like an epic was about to unravel? as the wind caught Tom’s paddles while we scouted the biggest and most serious slide-drop and blew them straight into a siphon. Rob made a valient effort to look for them while paddling down to the final must-make eddy, before dropping into a hole right above said eddy. Everyone’s hearts were in their mouths while Rob worked his way to the edge of the hole. Just as he dragged himself into the eddy, Tom’s paddles reappeared from under the rock and Patrick caught them just before they went off the edge of the biggie.

Tom boofing the boiling pot. Photo: Rob Tuley

The rest of the run was sweet. I particularly enjoyed the above drop, which involved boofing hard left to avoid a “boiling pot of doom”. The granite section ended with a big but easy slide into a deep pool. The sun came out and we decided to haul-ass back up for another go. But first we had more important matters:? sending all those that had decided not to come with a choice? photo.

Hand grab fun on the final slide. Photo: Rob Tuley

As the river rapidly rose, we paddled the final kilometer of grade 3 boulder gardens to the get-out feeling very chuffed at the day’s adventure. A feast was in order and so to a local restaurant we went.

That night we made grand plans for every weather related? eventuality, but? after? 4 hours of? pushing the boundaries of TomToming? and a billion U-turns in tight cobbled streets, we had to plump for something quick to paddle? and easy to find. The Tamega promised 7km of grade III but? was more like 2km of grade II then flat. Never-the-less,? Rob and I had a lovely paddle as the sun came out against the light rain, forming? a rainbow behind us and beautiful sunbeams between the hills. The others had paddled off while we did the shuttle and we found them at the take-out muttering something? like “It’s Ta-mega pile of..”.

Quite bizarrely there were some Russian paddlers at the take-out who knew the guys Patrick and I had met while in the Altai Mountains for? this summer’s Four Borders Expedition. I was surprised that Russians considered Portugal as a paddling destination while most of its neighbouring countries remain relatively blinkered from it.

Having been frustrated by the day’s harvest, we headed to the Paiva and camped at the put-in of the Sex-Up section in order to get in? a cheeky morning run? before our flight home. Although fairly low, the Paiva proved to be continuous and steep? grade IV boulder gardens all the way to the take out.

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Rio Paiva. Photo: Tom Laws

Photo: Rob Tuley

A much happier end to the trip. Although? our car? did get screwed… which gave the boys another chance to prove their manliness as they changed the wheel on? the? resultant flat tyre.

After a leisurely lunch, we drove back to Porto to return our slightly battered hire cars. Hurray for zero excess! Just enough time for Theo to smash a glass-coated staircase in the airport before catching our plane home.

Absolutely excellent trip made memorable by great company, stubborn? determination? and a little bit of luck.? Gracious thanks to the Tuley family for post- and pre-trip feeding, sleeping and airport shuttling. Also thanks to everyone involved in sorting us out with a fantastic New Year’s eve; especially the family? who were so hospitable to 14 smelly strangers.

I’ve put up a? selection of? pictures that give a little overview of the trip? online.? Click here to have a flick.

If you are planning a trip to Portugal? take recent? walking-scale maps (for the roads!), the guidebook and a Sat Nav to make the most of your time there. We met several local paddlers, even on arriving at the airport and they were all? unbelieveably helpful and friendly. With the budget airline Ryan Air flying? to Porto? from Stansted, Bristol and Liverpool and cheap car hire available? it? makes good long weekend destination – especially if you can book late when you know that there will be rain. I think you’d have to go for a week or so the first time though as finding your way around can be very time consuming!