An indole-templated RCM has been used to assemble the central medium-sized rings of the indole upper-half of vinorelbine and the cleavamine-type alkaloids. From these key intermediates, the bridged tetracyclic framework of the alkaloids is completed with the insertion of a 2-ethylpropeno unit, by N-alkylation followed by a challenging endocyclic vinyl halide Heck cyclization. The usefulness of the approach is illustrated with the synthesis of (+/-)-cleavamine and (+/-)-dihydrocleavamine. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.