Lençóis is the town that the diamond rush built, and it still looks like it. In the 1840s prospectors poured into this corner of Bahia, and the name is said to come from the white tents they pitched along the river, which from the hills looked like sheets laid out to dry. The stone houses along the cobbled lanes are a leftover from that money, painted in faded colours, with a river running clear and tea-brown just below the square, stained by the plants upstream rather than by anything dirty.
You reach it on the BR-242 and the side roads of the Chapada Diamantina, a plateau of sandstone tabletops, canyons and caves in the dry interior of Bahia, a long day from the coast. The riding here is more open than twisty: long, fairly straight asphalt with sudden rises where the plateau steps up, red earth at the verges, scrub that turns green after rain. The Morro do Pai Inácio, the flat-topped rock that this ride is named for, stands a short run away and is worth the climb at sunset, when the whole valley goes amber. Traffic is light apart from trucks, but animals wander onto the road, so keep a little speed in reserve after dark.
Dry season, roughly May to September, is the sensible window for a bike, with clear air and firm gravel on the side tracks. The summer rains can turn the dirt roads to paste and the waterfalls into brown torrents. The town itself is a good base: there are plenty of pousadas, and the evening food runs to river fish, beans and the sweet cassava dishes of the sertão, usually with a cold beer.
Fuel needs a little planning. Treat Lençóis as your last reliable pump in this stretch, fill the tank before heading south toward Mucugê and Ibicoara, and carry a litre of water. The plateau is wonderful, but the stretches between settlements are long, and the mobile signal comes and goes.