Devon TRF Group Forum

Be interested to hear how you go on, am staying few miles from there with the family next summer and plan to slip off for a day 

We had a great time with Enduro Portugal, and thoroughly recommend it to anybody.

Although it cost a little more in total than our previous trips in Spain, we had sea-view rooms in a hotel right on the beach with sauna and indoor pool. Chauffeur-driven mercedes (thanks Gordon) for all transfers and the daily trip to the Autodrome where Dougal is based.

The KTM 450's were brilliant - I think 250's would have been working quite hard on some of the terrain, and they were very relaxed to ride on the faster bits. It certainly wasn't a problem for any of us, even though it had been 18 months since one of us had ridden at all.

We did 3 days riding, with each day being distinctly different from the rest. Tricky rocky ascents/descents linked by wider forest trails, and a fair bit of mud following the previous night's heavy rain made the first day an easy transition from recent Devon lanes! There was even a few laps of a motocross track. Across to the stunning West Coast on day 2, riding deep sandy tracks through by the beach. Day 3 was reminiscent of Dartmoor at times, with round granite boulders and fantastic views across to the South and West coasts. Some narrow single-track laid out as a mountain-bike track made for some interesting challenges too. Each day had its own merits and I would have happily stayed on to do another day or so.

If you think the slatey rocks of Simm's are slippery, try riding over a layer of freshly cut eucalyptus branches in the rain! We only actually had a couple of showers on the first day - sun and even a bit of frost on the other days. Cold was never an issue, though, as we didn't stop long enough to cool down. In my opinion, this was an ideal time to go over to Enduro Portugal, as it will be far too hot in the summer. Oh yes, in addition, we saw about 6 walkers on the first day, none on the second, and 3 bikes and a cow on the trails on the 3rd. That's it. Better than a Sunday bimble around Budleigh even.

Our hotel was about 10 minutes walk from the pretty village of Alvor, or 5 minutes in a taxi from Playa De Roche where the main nightlife was. Although out of season, the numbers were significantly swollen last weekend by the Karting World Championships taking place right in Front of the Autodrome.

Dougal was a great guide, pacing things based on the ability of the group, and adjusting the ride to ensure there is always an easy option (which we all needed at times following repeated failures to get up some of the tracks). The riding is as hard or easy as you choose to make it, and there was never undue pressure to do anything we were not comfortable doing. He is keen to ensure that the choice of riding is driven by the group he is leading, and if you have any special requests, he will do his best to accomodate them. He is coming back to the UK shortly and is hoping to come up for a ride in Devon, and has offered to take us around some of the Cornish lanes too.

Dougal has offered a 10% discount off the riding cost (not the hotel or transport options) to TRF members, bringing the cost down from 200 Euros to 180 Euros per day. He will arrange the whole thing for you, as he did for us, or you can just arrange the riding through him. Currently, Portugal appears to only have 2 options. There is Enduro portugal in the Algarve, and another company in the North who use XR250's I believe. Personally, I would go back to Enduro portugal as there is enough variety to do it all again and we have no complaints. We thoroughly enjoyed the whole trip.

He is also in discussion with an associate about the possibility of combining off-road tours with a track day at the Autodrome (cars or bikes). He has his own Dodge Viper which he drives on the track.

Some pictures of our trip are available here.