Summary of Our Tour of Portugal and Spain

Holts battlefield tour of Portugal and Spain had been very enjoyable, but this one convinced us that we could do even better on our own.

We visited many of the same battlefields that we had been to with Holts, but this time we had time to spend as much time as we wanted on the field. In particular Salamanca and Fuentes de Orono had been well worth a second visit.

Then there were the new ones. I will remember Busacco because it was the best sign posted of any we have visited, but also walking around the village of Sula - plus of course standing on Crauford's rock. Torres Vedras where we had the whole fort to ourselves, as we did also at Fort Conception.

The smaller battlefields of Rolica and Vimerio, each of which only required half a day to fully explore. And the city of Oporto, where we could have spent a week. Returning to Cuidad Rodrigo and Almeida to spend many hours exploring the streets and walking around the town walls.

We were right to be concerned at taking on a fly-drive battlefield tour of two countries when we spoke not a word of either Spanish or Portuguese. And there were times when the lack of the local language proved a huge problem - for example Oporto! But it proved that with sufficient research and good planning it could be done. What's more it could be very enjoyable. Indeed it is much more rewarding to do it yourself than to sit back and let a coach tour take the strain.

We had now done Wellington's battlefields of central Spain and Portugal pretty well. Our next venture would be to explore the northern battlefields and the Pyrenees.

Oporto

Oporto was the scene of Wellesley’s daring crossing of the river Oporto and defeat of Marshal Soult in 1808. It was also the last battlefield to be visited in our second round of Peninsular battlefields in 1994.

This is the same view taken by me in 1994. It is taken from the north (French held) bank of the river, looking towards the site of the seminary. We could not locate the seminary, but believe it may be the large white building downstream on the right in both photographs.

A similar view taken in 1994 and showing the new rail and road bridge. Again the monastery is shown on the right, and we visited it just after we took this photograph. It is very easy to locate the place where Wellesley set up his artillery and his headquarters. It looks down on the city and offers excellent views of both the north bank and the river both upstream and downstream.

Jan is standing on the bridge and looking towards the monastery. The whole area is just another part of Oporto now, but the building is original. It is easy to find, and there is even a sign to “to the monument”. The bridge is modern, but is built on the same spot as the one destroyed by Soult in 1809. The long red and white buildings belong to the port firms which were as famous in 1809 as they are now.

This is the exact spot where Wellesley’s guns were positioned. You can see what an excellent view they had of the city. We also explored the warren of narrow streets which you can see gathered around the river. They must be pretty much as they were in 1809 and we could well imagine the panic and chaos the artillery fire must have caused amongst the civilian population.

We drove to Oporto from Almeida and I had what I thought were clear instructions to the hotel. However we somehow entered the city on a different road from the one I thought we were on, and were soon completely lost. Neither of us speak any Portuguese, but we stopped the car at each road junction and I jumped out with the address of the hotel and followed the direction pointed by helpful pedestrians. We seemed to drive all over the city, and indeed we actually passed the same square twice. After about an hour driving around in desperation we parked the car in a multi storey car park, showed the attendant our hotel address and set off on foot. Fortunately it was quite close, and it was only then that we realized that it was in the centre of the city – which is a pedestrian area! We had driven around the whole car free zone at least once! For the remainder of our stay we explored on foot, and only collected the car when we were ready to drive to the airport for our flight home.

The Coa

It’s usually called the “combat” of the river Coa, rather than the “battle”. It was a relatively small affair, but could easily have ended in the loss of the famous Light Division.

The French approach to the bridge

On 24 July 1810 the light division was deployed on the right bank of the river Coa just outside the walls of Almeida. Wellington had advised Crauford to withdraw to the left bank, but the latter had delayed. The division was completely surprised by the advance of Ney’s VI Corps who quickly pushed them down the steep hill to the river bank. On that day the river was deep and could only be crossed by the single bridge.

From the Allied side, the hill in the background is Macleod's knoll

Fighting a desperate retreat the division reached the bridge and crossed to the safety of the left bank. Battalions were mixed up in the scramble downhill, and a group held a small knoll on the right bank overlooking the bridge. As the French renewed their attack this group was ordered to withdraw. As they did they saw five companies of the 52^nd making their way to the bridge along the bank of the river on the right bank.

This simple cross is for the fallen of both sides

Major Macleod led about 200 men forward in a desperate charge which drove the French back and they regained the knoll. The five companies crossed the bridge to safety, and MacLeod withdrew over the bridge.

This is the view the defending light division had of French attacks on bridge

Once on the left bank the light division deployed on the hill overlooking the bridge which provided them with excellent protected cover close enough to the bridge to destroy each French attempt to cross. The light division lost about 300 men in the rout to the bridge. The French lost twice that number in repeated attempts to cross the same bridge.

Jan sketching on the allied side of the bridge

The bridge makes it easy to identify Macleod’s knoll and the hill occupied by the light division to hold the bridge. The river was completely dry when we visited, with steep banks and full of large rocks. It was very difficult to climb down to the river, and more so to cross even without a raging river. Looking up at the knoll from the bridge it was easy to see how important it was to hold this position until all of the allied infantry had crossed. And standing on the hill overlooking the bridge it was clear that any attempt to storm the bridge must end of failure.

Whilst I spent a couple of hours exploring the area, Jan sat beside the bridge and did this sketch.

Almeida

This was our second visit to Almeida, which during the Peninsular War guarded the northern corridor against a French invasion from Spain. It stands on the Portuguese side about 15 miles from Cuidad Rodrigo on the Spanish side.

The town wall and fortifications are complete, as are many of the military installations inside the town, including the magazines. It is possible to have a guided tour of the magazines, with their piles of musket balls.

The state run hotel is a modern building with comfortable accommodation and lots of parking. But it is a disappointment after the state run hotel in Cuidad Rodrigo, which is in the castle which was the French headquarters during throughout the war. The hotel is within the town walls, and it was interesting exploring the streets, the site of the explosion and the military buildings. But there was no where to eat or buy a drink, other than the hotel. And that was, as the state run hotels always are, pretty expensive.

The rest of the town is just as you would imagine. I understand that most of the buildings were damaged during the explosion of 26 August 1810, which is probably better known as the setting for Bernard Cornwall's book "Sharpe's Gold". If so they have been repaired and the narrow streets feel much as they must have done on that fateful day. This is the view from our hotel bedroom.

This is a drawing Jan did of the same view from our hotel bedroom

A very quiet town, some of the buildings still bear the scars of the mighty explosion. The only transport I saw inside the town was a donkey drawn cart, which added greatly to the period feel of the town.

In August 1810 the French marched from Salamanca on the long awaited invasion of Portugal. Marshal Ney laid siege to Almeida and Wellington hoped that the garrison would delay them for at least two months. It had provisions to last that lone and a strong Portuguese garrison commanded by Colonel Cox, a British officer.

The town powder magazine was in a large building on a slight hill at the top of the town. The French artillery opened fire on 26 August, and one of the first shots fired somehow exploded the magazine. The town was ripped apart by the force of the explosion, and about five hundred people killed. It is said that not a single buildings was left with a roof though most of the fortifications were undamaged. It is said that because the magazine was on high ground, most of the force of the explosion went above the walls. This photo was taken at the scene of the explosion, which is still covered by the remains of the building.

The whole area where the magazine stood is still bare, no attempt having been made to build again on the spot. The day after the explosion the garrison surrendered and Marshal Ney departed on his long march to Busaco and the Lines of Torres Vedras.

Fort Conception

Fort Conception lies a few miles north of Fuentes de Onoro just inside the Spanish border with Portugal. It was the home to the Light Division, but they blew it up in 1810 as Marshal Ney approached on his march to Portugal.

Despite the damage done in 1810 the fort is still in a good condition, though many of the larger rocks have been removed by local farmers for use in their own houses and walls. It is open to the public and we spent an afternoon there wandering around without seeing any other visitors.

After a quick look around, Jan settled herself down with her sketch pad, whilst I explored the abandoned and empty buildings.

The sketch that Jan did of the ramp approaching the main entrance

It was a very hot day and I should have given Jan my hat to protect her from the sun – but I did give her my handkerchief to make a very “natty” headdress.

The most impressive part of the fort still intact is the main entrance, with its Spanish royal crest engraved in stone.

Much of the walls and most of the interior casements and storage areas are still intact and very interesting to explore. Its hard to imagine such easy access to a historical site in UK. Apart from being charged admission there would no doubt be many areas fenced off in the interests of health and safety.

Fort Conception is one of the most interesting sites we have visited. Many of the most famous soldiers of the period, such as Jonathan Leach, John Kincaid, Harry Smith and George Simmons were members of the Light Division and would have spent long periods in this very fort. It was fascinating to read their experiences whilst sitting where they wrote them.

Although the structure was blown up in 1810 the fort was used by the Light Division on and off during the next three years as they guarded the frontier between Spain and Portugal.