The Lines Of Torres Vedras

Wellington's HQ

In the autumn of 1809, Wellington retreated to previously prepared positions, called the Lines of Torres Vedras after the small town which became a strong point. There were about 150 forts, mostly small, with two or three guns carefully trained on possible routes of attack. Wellington’s engineers employed about 170,000 Portuguese building forts and roads so that troops could swiftly be moved. Phil had to do quite a bit of internet research to find out where to go to see stuff, but in the end our day was a triumph. First we found Wellington’s HQ (a substantial farmhouse) in a village called Pero Negro, from where he rode up to the nearest fort every morning. Then we climbed up to the very highest point, Monte Soccorso, which is not a fort, but the signalling centre. It has stupendous views in all directions. Wellington brought in sailors to manage semaphore stations to communicate between forts and between the forward line and the second line of fortifications. There were naval gun boats as well, to stop the French outflanking the lines by sea.

Sao Vicente - you can see some of the other hills, all with forts.

From Monte Soccorso, you can see the line of forts along curving ridges. All the forts supported each other. Portugal is very big on renewable energy and now the ridges are usually occupied by wind generators. Then we went to one of the few big forts, Sao Vicente, just outside Torres Vedras. They tended to use old windmills as magazines – this has two inside the walls – and deep ditches lined with stone. It commanded the road from Leira to Lisbon. So Massena, after getting a bloody nose at Busaco, marched through stripped countryside, only to be faced with this!

Well, we have completed our Wellington trail. It’s been great, because we’ve ended up places we wouldn’t normally go, and seen a very wide variety of towns and villages, accommodation, and landscapes. So maybe our next project ought to be to follow Wellington through the Basque country and the Pyrenees into France.

The driving was fine today, and there is another grey Panda in the car park, but they are ignoring one another, as pandas do.

A short note on the Portuguese language – it’s very different to Spanish – the whole country is very different to Spain – and while you can make some guesses with written Portuguese, you have no idea how anything is pronounced. They seem to slur and swallow syllables, so that “Torres Vedras” becomes something like “torsh verges”. Asking the way is not an option – thank heavens for the satnav. Although you have to watch her – she tried to take us up steps today.