The ASB winter tour started at Pulo do Lobo (Wolf's Leap), a natural gorge located in the Vale do Guadiana Natural Park, north of Mértola. There, a group of four riders from the Algarve met two riders from Setúbal, and they continued the tour together under Walter's guidance.

Pulo do Lobo is the most dramatic part of the Guadiana, where the river forms a gushing waterfall. Further upstream, the Guadiana feeds the Alqueva reservoir, the largest in Europe. In some places, the river forms the border between Portugal and Spain.

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From Pulo do Lobo, we continued south to Mértola. There, we enjoyed a guided tour of the town, followed by a delicious Alentejo-style dinner at the Tamuje restaurant in the historic town centre.

Mértola has a population of around 6,000 people, but attracts approximately 50,000 visitors every year. The town is situated on a hill above the Guadiana River. Its strategic location has made it an important fluvial commercial port since the Iron Age. Various indigenous tribes, as well as the Phoenicians, Romans and Moors from North Africa, have inhabited it. Like the Mezquita-Catedral in Córdoba, Mértola's main church was built over the only medieval mosque to survive the Umayyad period in Portugal.

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The next day, we left Mértola and the Baixo Alentejo region behind. We enjoyed a slow, relaxing drive through sunny, cool Andalusia, where we had an amusing encounter with a large herd of sheep that blocked the road for a while. We also marveled at the extraordinary landscape of the Rio Tinto mines, which have been exploited for gold, silver, copper, quartz, pyrite and calcite for 5,000 years.

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We arrived in Aracena in the evening of day two to find dark, heavy clouds promising rain and mist, which is far from ideal for riding a motorbike. On the morning of day three, we took time to visit the impressive Gruta de las Maravillas cave system, one of the most spectacular in Spain, with otherworldly landscapes of stalactites and stalagmites, crystal-clear lakes and subterranean passages spanning over 2 km.

After visiting the cave, we left Aracena in light drizzle. We drove carefully along the winding roads of the beautiful Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche Natural Park. Although there were magnificent views of the mountainous landscape, we had to pay extra attention as the road surface was partly slippery, especially on the cobblestone sections.

We arrived in Moura, our final destination, relatively dry. Due to a town-wide power cut, we enjoyed an unexpected candlelit dinner. It was the perfect way to celebrate completing our 700 km tour of this beautiful region of Portugal and Spain — there's no better way to experience it than on a motorbike with like-minded friends.

By Walter Kollert