Paddle acrossPortugalfrom Spain to the Sea

Day 1.- We encourage you to come a few days early to enjoy Portugal before our expedition. Nevertheless, the first two days will be relaxing and allow you to recover from jet lag. You will join us at 3:00 pm in the breakfast room at the Hotel Moov Porto Centro to meet your guide and receive detailed information about the expedition. At 4:00 pm, a local guide will lead you on a 3-hour walking tour of the historic center of Porto, preserved as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, followed by dinner in a typical Porto restaurant.

Today, the adventure begins. You should have an early breakfast and make your way to the São Bento train station, a tourist attraction for its outstanding hand-painted tilework. All the immense scenes are of historical events in northern Portugal. Here, we’ll board the “Linha Do Douro” train and arrive at the end of the line in Pocinho. After our arrival, we’ll have lunch in a local family-run restaurant and drive in our vans to Barca d’Alva, check into our hotel, and have a brief paddle to get familiar with our gear and to touch Spain on the Douro River before dinner at 20:00.

Today, we have our first real experience paddling the magnificent Douro River as we paddle on the reflections of the 600-foot walls and the grapevine terraces. We’ll have a swim or two and a picnic lunch at our takeout just below the Rock Art Museum. “The Upper Paleolithic rock art of the Côa Valley is an exceptional illustration of the sudden development of our creative genius during the dawn of human cultural development. The rock art of the Côa Valley in an exceptional way demonstrates the social, economic, and spiritual life of our prehistoric ancestors.” Before checking into our accommodation, we'll offer an optional, but recommended, visit to the Rock Art Museum (www.arte-coa.pt). The museum is on a high point overlooking the confluence of the Coa and Douro Rivers and appears to have been considered a sacred site by the people who chose this spot for their over 5,000 stone engravings. Our lodging will be in a vineyard that produces wine and olive oil, once owned by the Templar Knights. Dinner will be in the vineyard dining room.

Today is a special day because we are having dinner at a restaurant hosted by our good friend Jose Manuel in Mos. Jose Manuel raises much of the food he serves for dinner. He also makes his own port wine and red wine. But first, when we arrive in Mos, we will have a picnic lunch after paddling some of the most beautiful parts of the Douro. After lunch, we have the option to paddle about the same distance as in the morning for 2.5 hr. and finish at a sandy beach in Ferradosa, or go directly to our lodgings, where you can swim in the pool and use the sauna.

The paddle today will not be forgotten. The Valeira Cataract was the greatest obstacle to navigation on the Douro until the first major hydraulic project was completed between 1780 and 1791. This project was to demolish the falls, and they succeeded in enabling navigation up the Douro to the border with Spain. This made possible an essential development of the wine industry, and in fact, this was the reason for the project. This incredible project didn’t eliminate the river's dangers. It only made it possible to pass, but still with significant risk. A point worth mentioning is that the wine casks were only half full so that when a boat hit the rocks, the wine casks would float and be saved. The man who made the first detailed map of the river, Baron Forrester, drowned in this place 70 years after it was demolished. All five locks on the Douro River are the same size, but the water levels we are lowered or raised to differ from lock to lock. The locks allow ships up to 272 ft. in length, 37 ft beam (wide), and a draft of 12.5 ft. Today we will pass the Valeira Lock (2.8 miles from Ferradosa, 1.5 hours), which will lower us 108 ft. Passing through a lock in a kayak for the first time is an exciting experience, and you’ll enjoy it, I’m sure. As usual, we get on the water early, and we’ll have a picnic lunch at a beautiful site a short distance below the lock. After lunch, we’ll continue to Pinhao to our takeout. In Pinhao, time permitting, we’ll visit the famous train station to see tile work dedicated to the working vineyards in the Douro Valley. From Pinhao, we’ll portage on to Peso da Regua, where we’ll spend the night.

Today, we will launch from Peso da Regua, and our lunch stop will be just before the river narrows. After lunch, we will also stop at Porto Rei beach for a break and a swim in the river. This is an excellent place for those who wish to practice rolling or any other maneuver. After our break, we'll paddle downriver to where we paddle under a Roman Bridge to a natural spring with a beautiful small waterfall. From there, we'll move on to our lodgings, where we will spend the night and have dinner. This beautiful baroque-style manor house was first built in the early 19th century, with significant structural and decorative renovations in the early 20th century, and a lovely swimming pool.

Today we have a shorter paddle. We will put in at the beach where we took out yesterday and paddle down a long, relatively wide part of the river. You will have noticed a change in the vegetation along the riverbanks. Since lunch yesterday, we have moved from the port and red wine area to the white wine area, and we see quite a lot of Quercus suber, commonly called cork trees. The weather also changes from here on downriver with higher humidity and much more rainfall, but most likely, in these months, we won't have rain. About halfway into our paddle, we will take a break at a riverside cafe. Our lunch will be a picnic at our overnight lodging. Tonight you will again stay in very traditional lodgings that will amaze you. Dinner will be a short drive away. 

Today, we will pass another lock, the tallest on the river. The Carrapatelo Dam and lock are about 1 hour's paddling from Porto Antigo. This lock lowers us 114.8 ft. into another beautiful part of the river. Our lunch stop on this paddle will be on a sandy beach at Espadanedo about 45 minutes after the lock. After lunch, we paddle onto Entre os Rios, where we will take out. Guests can relax in the garden pool while enjoying the scenic landscape. A morning breakfast buffet is served in the dining area.

Today is our last day on the Douro, and we're off to an early start. Today we will put in at the beach of the most famous kayak racing club in Portugal. Today, for the first time, we are paddling on the river as it was before the dams. This is tidal water, and if we're lucky, we'll get a free ride into Porto. We'll paddle either helped or hindered by the river current as it flows out to the sea at Porto. After the first bridge in Porto, we'll have lunch at Oliveira do Douro and arrive in the early afternoon in the center of Porto. As we continue, we'll be the focal point of many cameras as we paddle to the fishing port where the Douro meets the sea. Here we take our kayaks out of the water for the last time and raise a glass of port wine in celebration of having paddled together across Portugal. After taking out our kayaks, we'll go to our hotel in Gaia, and at dinner, we'll celebrate our nine days together.

Our services end after breakfast in our hotel in Gaia. Those who wish may spend time visiting the historic quarter of Porto, which is classified as a World Heritage Site. You will find the people genuinely welcoming, and Porto is home to imposing architectural styles, including Gothic and Baroque, as well as the very interesting Art Nouveau storefronts.  An important note: Our itinerary is always subject to change due to weather or other unforeseen circumstances.