Tackling the Rota Norte — 500 Mile Bikepacking Adventure Across Portugal

The Rota Norte is the “North Route”, a 500 mile loop around northern Portugal. It showcases four main regions of the country, Minho, Porto, Tras-os-Montes, and Douro. This route is meant for bikepacking, motorcycles, tourist car travel, RVs, and others. Winding in and out of small towns, some bigger cities, across massive wine country hills, and bigger mountains, it really shows a huge spectrum of geography despite being a small country.

Here’s my ride: https://www.strava.com/activities/15942561439

See more here: www.RotaNorte.pt

I rode a @CannondaleBicycles71 Topstone Carbon.
@zippspeed 303 Wheels.
@ReneHerseCycles Hatcher Pass 700×48 tires.
@TailfinCycling AeroPack, Toptube pack, and panniers.
@ExposureLightsUK Toro

[Music] Well, there’s gondilas overhead. There’s bridges on either side. There’s big boats. There’s tourists everywhere. This could be a variety of places, but you also might recognize this as Porto Portugal. I flew in last night. Got my bike all loaded up and I’m about to do the 777 km roa norte. I’m sure I just butchered that in Portuguese, but in so many words, it is the north route. It is this giant loop of northern Portugal. 777 km is approximately 482 miles. My plan is to tackle it over the next 3 and 1/2 days. So, here we are midday on Tuesday. Going to get back here to Porto on Friday. So, let the adventure begin. [Music] All right, running a couple errands real quick. About to run into Decathlon where I hope to buy a propane tank for my stove. Perfect. All loaded back up. I bought myself this sweet pair of white sandals because I decided I wanted a different pair of shoes and my Birkenstocks were too big. Uh not setting any land speed records getting out of town. [Music] Keep getting stuck at traffic lights. But then I stopped here in particular because here’s a bike shop, BCAS. And you know the most interesting part of it all, there’s a penny farting in there. You see that? Also not setting land speed records. All right, let’s get out of here. I’ve been on the road for 2 hours and I made it about 7 miles. [Music] Well, once you sneak out of Porto, it’s uh it’s kind of flat and headwindy. I know I’m going north into the mountains, so it’s sort of just a get from point A to point B right now. Whoops. Lesson learned. Don’t accidentally drop your cycling computer. Uh thankfully it’s still working. Screen is smashed to smitherreens, but I can see the top still working. Uh that’s frustrating but say lovey onward. [Music] Oh yeah. Well, I figured that out. So the route itself starts in the northwest corner. I happen to start in Porto. So my first 40 miles was getting to the northwest corner. Here I am 4 miles into the ride and it’s beautiful. [Music] up in some forest. Nice sineuous road. Trees everywhere. Yeah, now we’re talking. Now we’re talking. All right, we’re in the town of Braga, which I thought was Barga. Um, it’s about 5:15, 5:30, so I’m thinking I’m going to call this dinner town. USA. Well, this is an absolutely beautiful garden. [Music] It is burrito and French fry clock. So, here in Bara, no, Braa at 6:00. Sun’s starting to go down and I decided I was hungry. So, here we go. [Music] Hey, [Music] hey, [Music] Well, this just might be the ticket. It’s uh 7:30 is sunset, so it’s probably 7:25. Get some stats on the day. I’ve ridden about 5 1/2 hours, 85 miles. Uh that is about 8 and 1/2 hours of uh elapse time. And given that I slept for two, three, four hours on an airplane last night, I think this is a prime opportunity to go to sleep. So, gonna hunker down here right about there. Las vegetable lasagna from the good folks at Bike Packers Pantry. So, putting this thing to use. Glad I picked this up today. Anyway, going to have a second dinner as the sun goes down. Camp set up. Can’t complain. Well, these sandals are worth their 5year-old 90. Beautiful. [Music] Good morning. Time to make some breakfast. Slept pretty darn well. Without question, the worst part of bike packing is putting on used dirty shammy. I guess the next worst part is tomorrow when I put on a second day of used shammy. [Music] Sun’s coming up. Well, hello. It’s uh just like that up in the mountains. [Music] Nothing is super high, but certainly super duper hilly. What else is interesting? Unfortunately, yesterday’s headwind conveniently turned into a tailwind yesterday at the tail end of the day, and now it’s back into a headwind. So, I’m kind of protected here in these hills. But it’s also very very very windy. Got this super cool high viz vest on. Optimal for visibility and aesthetics. [Music] Wow. [Music] Oh my god. Not what I wanted. Well, that was funny. I bought this uh orange juice only to learn that it is concentrated orange juice. Watch this. Oh yeah, that’s a syrup for sure. So, bought some water and all is well. [Music] All right, found another dam, which I think is the highest of the day. So, basically been climbing a heck of a lot and been going straight into a headwind for a heck of a lot of it. But with any luck, I feel like I have a lot of sentences like that. this this this. But yeah, I don’t like riding to a headwind for four hours. But see, there I did it again. I don’t like riding into a headwind for 4 hours, period. It’s beautiful. I just shed my uh leg warmers and arm warmers for the first time here at almost noon. Bit of a surprise. And my stem is my drying rack. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] [Music] So, that was a funny experience. I’m in the town of Chavez. Big town. Probably the biggest town that I will go to outside of Porto. And I went to pay after stopping for a coffee, piece of cake, another piece of cake, another piece of cake, another piece of cake, a bottle of water that is jammed down my shirt, and uh a coffee. I already said that. Maybe a chocolate milk. I bought a bunch of food and I went to pay and I take my credit card out and she goes, “No, no, no.” And I think, “Uh-oh.” Then I bring out my US dollars because before I left, I never had time or I didn’t think of it to go to an ATM. Hey, corn. Like a dummy. I’m like, I’ll just go to only places that accept uh credit card and I’ll use my US dollar like an income poop otherwise. Yeah, that didn’t work out. So then I tried to use my credit card at the ATM. I don’t know my PIN to my credit card. I don’t think my credit card has a PIN. Then I tried my other one. Same result. So then three kindly women explained that there is sort of a Venmo equivalent. I have her number. I have the amount. I’m going to pay her off in spades. We all laughed about it because clearly I don’t look like a thief. And if I did to steal my €11 of cake. This is quite a costume to pull it off. Anyway, that’s the end of my story. about halfway through the day. So hopefully my momentum continues to pick up. Super slow so start to the day. The last hour or so is moving pretty quick. Onward to the northeast corner of Portugal. [Applause] When I up [Music] All right, no lie. I uh I’m rolling in. It’s about 6:00. I see a big town coming up. So, I Googled pasta cafe. Often if I’m looking for a lunch spot, I Google cafe. If I’m looking for pasta, like right now, I Google pasta cafe. Pasta cafe is literally the name of the place. What are the odds? [Music] Leaving town about to ride into the night. So, I just did a grocery shop after my dinner and looking forward to testing out my lights. Last glimmers of light. I think sunset is in about 20 minutes. [Music] Oh yeah, baby. Lights going on right about now. There we go. Rock and roll. Well, here we are. Night two. Here’s my campsite. my clothes drying on some random road to nowhere. So, it’s not the most flat area, but it’s as flat as I could get. Hopefully, it’s fantastic. Yo yo, it’s a hair after 6:30. From the comfort of my sleeping bag, I’m able to fire up the coffee maker, which is super helpful because it’s freezing. Coffee and creme brulee coming up. Here is my sleeping bag. Here is yours truly. Eat it. It’s uh it’s chilly here at about 6:30 in the morning. Um here’s my creme brulee. Just add water and shake and then it’s brown because I added a coffee packet to it. So, it’s coffee creme brulee. That’s a pretty steep hill up. Sun is rising. Steep hill down to the river. my drying rack. Beautiful view. All things are good. It’s a little bit chilly last night, so I’m really glad I brought my warm, warm sleeping bag, and yeah, another big day in the store. All right, up and Adam day three. New set of clothes. New pair of socks, bibs, jersey. What’s up? Yesterday, I did a pretty big push. About 11 hours of riding. And considering there’s 12 hours of sunlight and plenty of stop time, that’s respectable. 170 some odd miles. So, I am halfway through with two big days to go. [Music] Gosh, the sun feels good. Going east to Miranda Alduro, something like that. Miranda of the Duro River. Oh, here’s a nice house. And look, Spain is 7k away. All right, check it. Here is the Roto Norte. I started in Porto. Went up here day one. Actually, I made it to about here on day one. And I was all the way out here on day two. I started about here on day three. And I made it down to Sundeem with the goal of getting down to here. I wonder if you can even see this. I think so. The final day is pretty righteous. So maybe based on the current wind situation, I could get a little bit further. We will see. It’s uh so far so good. It’s quite breezy, but for the first time in a long time, the wind is favorable. Hey, look, a Lamborghini dealer. You guys know Lamborghinis are tractors. Prototype untapped. Here’s how I consume it with one hand. People often ask this. Rip off the top. I keep it in my mouth for right now. Consume. And I kind of wrap it up all in one flipping motion. Tada. And into the pocket. [Music] So up here on day three, uh very hilly, big old burn zone, sort of wine country meets just massive hills. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Behold the power of the mighty Duro. So, there’s the Doro or however you pronounce it. Sorry, I am admittedly not Portuguese. Um, Spain. I made a note to myself that when I get to this point, I can go on this short distance to Spain, but I don’t actually want to go descend 1,000 ft in order to climb back up 1,000 ft. So, I’m going to keep on going down this. Um, but yeah, I’m on a section that parallels the Duro. So, that’s pretty sweet. All right. Hola. All right, there’s the pavement. We’re trying out a B path now. So fingers crossed this works. Looks like a bit of a shortcut. [Music] Ha. Just dropping some Portuguese on my homies. [Applause] [Music] Well, that was sweet. 10 out of 10. Would recommend. Better. Well, it’s not intentional, but I keep on ending up at grocery stores because you go in and they have like everything you’d ever want. So, I can come over here and charge. I can eat my gluttonous snacks and drink my chocolate milk and call it a pretty good day here at 3:00 in the afternoon. [Music] So, it’s about 5:30, so the sun’s getting low. [Music] And I think this is the story of the final 80 miles or so. Just endless huge huge hills. It reminds me a lot of Tuscany just much bigger hills. Wine country everywhere. It’s beautiful and very very challenging. [Music] Just had a nice dinner now In search of a place to sleep. [Music] Morning. Got up a hair after 6 and I’m doing something that I assume is something of a bike packing or general backpacking hack, but it’s new to me. cereal straight from the bag because of course here in Europe you don’t need to refrigerate milk when you buy it straight from the grocery store. So bag of cereal, chuck some milk in it, a banana. So good. [Music] Morning. Morning. Big day yesterday. Again, I did 160 160 miles, which again, in my mind, doesn’t sound like a ton, but holy dully, I’ve got this thing weighed down. I bet it weighs 40 plusb, 50 lb. I don’t know. It’s a lot. Anyway, I’m feeling got the tired eyes going on, but I only have 85 miles today. The daunting part is I have something like 15,000 ft of climbing over these 85 mi. So, it’s fitting that we’re starting on a climb up up all day long with occasional downhills. [Music] [Music] Give me a break. Give me a break. Break me off a piece of that [Music] double chocolate KitKat bar. Uh, making pretty slow and steady progress. This is sort of a terrible view, but you get an idea of why I came here once and I was like, gosh, this place seems like Switzerland. It’s like the Riviera meets I don’t even know what. But big big big hills all day. And so I decided I used this trashy rest stop cuz it’s time to eat some KitKat bars. Okie dokie. Chow chow. As a crow flies 20 mi from Porto, so getting kind of close. But currently that also means it’s a lot of straightaway threelane highway. But cool bridges. [Music] [Music] Holy duly. Ladies and gentlemen, I made it back to the bridge under which I started. It’s been about 75 total hours, so a hair over three days. It’s about 30 riding hours. It’s about 40,000 ft of climbing, 500 miles, and I made it back to Porto. Uh, I started the year at Race Around Rwanda. This is, of course, UCI World Championship weekend, so there are people racing in the land of a thousand hills. This reminded me of it here in Portugal. It was just up down all the time outside of the first day which was pancake fat flat across the coast. Uh beautiful route. I’m kind of smoked to be honest. Um so now I’m here to enjoy the better parts of Portugal. Like maybe I’ll go on one of these river boats. Anyway, thank you very much for watching. I appreciate it. Hit that like button. Apparently that’s a good thing. All right, check you later. Bye. [Music] Oh boy. [Music]