Touring the Peninsula With Matt

Bussaco

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Our first port-of-call on the battle-list was Bussaco, that "damned long hill" where Wellington stood against Ney, Junot and Reynier (under Massena's command), who had pursued him (unfortunately for them) to one of the finest defensive positions in Europe.

Wellington won a superb victory there, partly due to the fog that covered the hill during the battle, and partly due to mistakes on Massena's behalf (failing to take a reconnaissance, and throwing all his troops on a frontal attack upon a strongly defended position).

Approaching Bussaco, it soon became clear what a challenge it must have been to scramble up the rocky slopes in full Napoleonic soldiers' kit, let alone under heavy fire from hidden adversaries.

Bussaco is a 10-mile (16 kilometre) long ridge whose southern end drops sharply into the river Mondego, the whole of its front, with the exception of the extreme northern end, is steep fronted and rises 1000 feet in some areas with a valley below.

Ironically for me, the shape of the ridge is not dissimilar to the Malvern Hills, but on a larger scale. The forward slope (that Massena faced) was just bare dirt in 1810, but is now thickly covered in forest, and there originally was a passable track that led from end to end.

The car climbed up through the national park and stopped in a car park some way up near the Bussaco Palace Hotel (where my grandparents stayed when they were younger) and we set off up to the hotel where we wandered around the grounds for a few minutes.

After a brief trek round we started up the hill and, as we climbed, we stopped at vantage points and small buildings that house the ''Stations of the Cross'' (made out of clay, and with most of the heads broken off!).

After a tiring but interesting climb we finally reached the summit and had a fantastic view of the surrounding landscape. As we came down we visited some of the monastery's outbuildings and we eventually reached the hotel. Here we came across surprise.

During a last tour around the hotel grounds we came across the old monastery that the hotel was joined to and inside the portico was a plaque commemorating Wellington's stay at the monastery. Intrigued we set off inside.

After a brief walk around the small passageway flanked by locked doors, we came across an open doorway and inside was a picture of Wellington, with two crossed blades (which I think may have been heavy cavalry like Sharpe's), a rifle and a musket on each side of him.

We had stumbled across the Convent of Bussaco, and the room in which Wellington had stayed (at the monks' expense) a night on the 21st September 1810, where he wrote: "We have an excellent position here in which I am strongly tempted to give battle."

After such a brilliant crescendo, we finished the day by visiting a monument dedicated to the defensive action, built on a piece of ground that was attacked by the French troops during the battle, and visited a small military museum that contained many artefacts from the battle.

Inside were original cannons (1 or 2 that were actually used in the battle, but were lost), small arms (pistols and swords), and roundshot, muskets and musketballs, as well as sketches and prints on the walls.

This was one of my favourite battlefield visits during the holiday, as it was very interactive, with the museum and climbing the hill that soldiers 192 years earlier fought and died upon for Wellington and Massena.

- Matt Mahabadi

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