Why this ride
216 km from Eixample to Eixample, about 3 h 43 of riding. On the way it passes Cova dels Segarulls, Abric de Can Ximet, Abric de Can Castellvi and Roca Roja.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Barcelona day out · Roca Roja
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 216 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 43
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Barcelona
Start with the grid. Barcelona's Eixample, the nineteenth-century extension designed by Ildefons Cerdà, is a field of identical square blocks with the corners cut off, so that every junction becomes a small octagonal plaza. It was meant to be egalitarian and airy, and for a rider it is wonderfully legible: you can always work out where you are, and the wide avenues let a motorcycle breathe. The city also has more motorbikes and scooters than almost any other in Europe, so drivers are used to them and parking for two wheels is routine rather than a fight.
Read the complete Barcelona write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Barcelona is where the day begins. Next is Cova dels Segarulls.
2. Cova dels Segarulls
The vineyards of the Penedès roll out in every direction from Vilafranca, and the Cova dels Segarulls lies among them, a few kilometres outside the town in the low hills toward the coastal range.
Read the complete Cova dels Segarulls write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Cova dels Segarulls comes up about 57 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de Can Ximet.
3. Abric de Can Ximet
The Penedès is a broad, gently rolling basin between the coastal ranges and the Montserrat massif, and it is one of the great wine regions of Catalonia. Vilafranca del Penedès, its capital, is a lively town with a Gothic church, a wine museum and a passion for castells, the human towers that teams of men, women and children build in the main square on feast days. UNESCO added the castells to its list of intangible heritage in 2010. Can Ximet is a farm name on the fringe of this landscape, and the shelter nearby is a modest rock overhang associated with prehistoric art.
Read the complete Abric de Can Ximet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 60 km into the recorded legs you reach Abric de Can Ximet. Next is Abric de Can Castellvi.
4. Abric de Can Castellví
The Penedès is wine country, and the landscape around Vilafranca del Penedès is a patchwork of vineyards rolling away toward the Montserrat massif in the north and the limestone hills of the Garraf in the south. Abric de Can Castellví is a small rock shelter in this landscape, one of the many sites of Levantine and schematic rock art scattered across Catalonia and included in the UNESCO serial site of the rock art of the Mediterranean Basin on the Iberian Peninsula. Like many such sites, it is modest in appearance, a hollow in the rock where faint painted figures have survived thousands of years, and access is often limited to protect the art.
Read the complete Abric de Can Castellvi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Abric de Can Castellvi, about halfway. Next is Roca Roja.
5. Roca Roja
Roca Roja, the red rock, is a fitting name for this corner of inland Catalonia, where sandstone and conglomerate cliffs glow rust-coloured in the evening light above pine forest and small terraced fields. The point lies in the hills between Querol and Mediona, where the comarques of Alt Camp, Alt Penedès and Anoia meet, a rugged, thinly populated upland that most people speed past on the motorway between Barcelona and Lleida without realising it exists.
Read the complete Roca Roja write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Roca Roja sits at 89 km, about halfway. Next is back through Abric de Can Castellvi.
6. back through Abric de Can Castellvi
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de Can Castellvi write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Abric de Can Castellvi comes up about 156 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Abric de Can Ximet.
7. back through Abric de Can Ximet
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de Can Ximet write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 157 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Abric de Can Ximet. Next is back through Cova dels Segarulls.
8. back through Cova dels Segarulls
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova dels Segarulls write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Cova dels Segarulls, late in the day. Next is Barcelona.
9. Barcelona
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Barcelona write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
The route ends here after 216 km.
Leg by leg
Barcelona to Cova dels Segarulls
Barcelona → Cova dels Segarulls is 57 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de Can Castellví to Roca Roja
Abric de Can Castellví → Roca Roja is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Roca Roja to back through Abric de Can Castellvi
Roca Roja → back through Abric de Can Castellvi is 52 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova dels Segarulls to Barcelona
back through Cova dels Segarulls → Barcelona is 58 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.