IIn April 1808 Lieutenant General Sir Arthur Wellesley, having been exonerated by the Inquiry into the Convention of Cintra, landed in Lisbon and assumed command of the Allied army in Portugal. In May he roundly defeated Marshal Soult’s French army at the Battle of Oporto, and crossing the Douro he carried the war into Spain. After his victory at the Battle of Talavera in July 1809 he was created Viscount Wellington, but when promises of Spanish support failed to materialise he withdrew to the Portuguese border while preparing the Lines of Torres Vedras to defend Lisbon, essential to the prosecution of the war as the main port by which the Royal Navy could land supplies and men (and withdraw the army if need be). When the French army commanded by Marshal Massena embarked on their third invasion of Portugal in July 1810, Wellington knew he would have to retreat and his plan was to draw the French onto the Lines. Wellington deliberately took up a defensive position along the seven mile long Busaco Ridge in order to entice Massena into taking the Coimbra road, and not the better, northern, route through Oporto.

The stratagem worked, and the Battle of Busaco, on 27 September 1810, was a serious setback for the French and allowed Wellington to slip away back to the Lines, followed by Massena. The Lines of Torres Vedras was one of the greatest feats of military engineering ever, with lines of redoubts, forts and gun positions covering every possible approach to Lisbon. Much of those works are still there, and in this tour, we will follow Wellington and his men from the Battle of Busaco back to the Lines and walk the Lines themselves, examining the skirmishes during the retreat and the defence of the Lines themselves. Walks vary between three and ten miles and while you do not need to be super fit, you do need to be healthy.

ITINERARY
Day 1 (Monday): Fly London – Oporto. Drive to the Busacoa Palace hotel for a 2 night stay. The hotel was originally a convent where Wellington spent the night; it was then converted into a hunting lodge for the Portuguese kings. Introductory lecture and dinner.
Day 2: A full day walking the Battle of Busaco, climb the ridge with General Foy, and defend the ridge with General Crawford and the Light Division. Lunch break in Luso.
Day 3: Capture Coimbra with Nicholas Trant (according to Wellington ‘the drunkest dog I ever met but a fine soldier’) and hold the ford at Pereira with the King’s German Legion Cavalry. We witness Massena’s surprise and shock when he realises the existence of the Lines. Picnic Lunch. Dinner and overnight in Batalha.
Day 4: The Lines of Torres Vedras I. We walk the First Line and discuss communications, supply and defence. Lunch break in Torres Vedras. Dinner and overnight in Lisbon
Day 5: The Lines of Torres Vedras II . We walk the Second line and examine the forts and redoubts, still as impressive as they were in 1810. Group lunch. Overnight in Lisbon.
Day 6: Free time until the return flight from Lisbon – London.