Driving the N222 along the banks of the Douro – voted ‘best in Portugal’ road

Leaving the vineyard, we wound our way down off the hillside following the contours of so many vineyards.  It wasn’t long before we picked up the N222 and made our way east to Pinhão.

The N222 was voted best in Portugal’ routes, so we wanted to see if it lived up to it!  So far so good, as we had a lovely approach to the little town of Pinhão.

It is pretty much just a one-street place, with few shops but lots of cafes and restaurants.  The small train station is covered with beautiful tiles (azulejos), dating from 1937. The walls of the station are covered with glazed mosaics, depicting typical scenes of the Duoro valley, which they say are some of the best in Portugal.

Old railway engine

We were tempted to stop the night as the view from where we parked up was lovely.  We met up again with Cindy and Joel, an American couple who were our neighbours on the vineyard the other night.  They are seasoned motorhomers from Florida, who bought their motorhome from Cochem, Germany and keep it based there when they go back home, which they tell us isn’t very often.  They had wild camped here that night and said it was a good spot, but we needed some fresh water, so we needed to move on and made our way slowly west along the N222 to Peso da Régua, stopping many times along the way.

Pinhão – lovely spot to wild camp for the night

The Aire at Peso da Régua Aire is right by the river Douro, with all the usual facilities for free - €3 if you want Electric (N41.15611 W7.7797).

Sonny, the motorhome relaxing by the Douro

The trademark Sandeman Port cut-out on the hill

It’s a popular place for cruise ships to tie up along the riverside or for you to take a short trip on one of the many boats up and down the Douro - up stream to Pinhão or down stream to Porto.

It’s also a popular place for wine and port tasting, but we had already done our's at Quinta Da Padrela.

Outside the HQ of the port wine grower’s organisation

Leaving Régua we continued along the N222 where the road became a lot more interesting than yesterday.  As it followed the river, it climbed up the hills, twisting and turning at every opportunity, with umpteen hairpin bends.  Luckily it was a Sunday and the roads were quiet ish, so Mel took his time.  The route was lined with cherry and olive trees and we even went through one town (Resende) where they were celebrating a cherry festival.  We didn’t stop though as it was so busy, we just decided to buy some cherries later to enjoy!

They called this part Rota da Românico (Route of the Romanesque) relating to the monuments located in this area, mostly monasteries, churches, bridges and castles.

These steep winding roads must take some clearing in winter!

On the route we started noticing a lot of GNR (police) on the side of the road and people in yellow vests.  We soon clicked that a cycle race must be coming along.  It wasn’t long after that we got pulled over and about 5 minutes later they came hurtling through.  It was no ‘Tour de France’ but there were a lot of cyclists and cars with their spare bikes.

The lead 3, followed by the peloton and cars.

We had been driving for nearly 4 hours (including stops for photos!) and had only travelled 100kms, so decided to pull off at the nearest Aire we could find - Moreira (N41.06152 W 8.26275).  A lovely little spot right on the Douro – with our own beach!

We spent the afternoon watching more pleasure boats come passed up the river and watching a few local fisherman and one man doing a bit of metal detecting.  Don't thing he found anything other than a few ring pulls of cans!

The view from Sonny's front door as the boats come by.

Our verdict on the N222 - a beautiful drive and one of the best we have done in Portugal.  We will spend tonight preparing ourselves for the onslaught on the city of Porto tomorrow!

Sally x