Nazas is a small town on the river of the same name in the north of the state of Durango, where the Sierra Madre Occidental gives way to the high, dry basins of the Mexican interior. It sits on the route of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the old royal road that ran north from Mexico City to Santa Fe, carrying silver, mercury, goods and settlers for nearly three centuries. A group of its historic buildings, around the main square and church, was included in the UNESCO listing of the Camino Real in 2010.
The town is quiet and modest, with low adobe and stone buildings, a church and a plaza shaded by trees. Its importance lay in water. The Nazas river flows out of the mountains and into the desert, and its waters made possible the oases and cotton fields of the Laguna region downstream, around Torreón and Gómez Palacio. Farmers here have depended on the river for centuries, and its floods and droughts shaped the history of the region, including struggles over land and water that fed into the Mexican Revolution.
The landscape around is wide and spare: desert scrub, cacti, mesquite and distant ranges, with green strips of farmland along the river. The light is intense, the sky enormous, and the night stars are spectacular. Summer days are very hot, while winter nights can be cold, and storms in the rainy season can flood roads quickly.
Riding in this part of Mexico means long distances, straight roads and few services. Highways are generally good, but minor roads can be rough, with potholes, gravel and livestock wandering freely. Topes, the speed bumps found in every village, can be brutal if you miss them. Durango is also famous for one of Mexico's great motorcycle roads, the highway over the Sierra Madre to Mazatlán, known for its twists and the dramatic stretch called the Devil's Backbone, though that lies a long way south-west of Nazas.
There is no large town nearby, so fuel planning is essential. Fill up in the last city on your way in and carry a reserve. Check current security advice for the state before travelling, as conditions vary by area. Local food is hearty: try gorditas, carne asada and Durango's famous dried meat, washed down with a cold drink in the shade of the plaza.