Barcelona long day · The

Waypoint introductions and full write-ups

1. 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 Roca Roja.

2. 2. 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 comes up about 83 km into the recorded legs. Next is Cova de Vallmajor.

3. 3. Cova de Vallmajor

   Inland from the Costa Daurada, behind the beach towns of El Vendrell and Calafell, the land rises into the low hills of the Baix Penedès, a landscape of vineyards, almond and olive groves, pine woods and small villages. The Cova de Vallmajor, near Albinyana and Bonastre, is a rock shelter in these hills with prehistoric paintings, part of the Levantine rock art of the Mediterranean that is recognised as a World Heritage Site. The paintings are faint and the shelter is protected, so visits are usually by arrangement.

   Read the complete Cova de Vallmajor write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   At least about 136 km into the recorded legs you reach Cova de Vallmajor. Next is Triumphal Arch of Berá.

4. 4. Triumphal Arch of Berá

   For centuries traffic on the main coastal road of Catalonia drove straight through a Roman triumphal arch. The Arc de Berà stands on the line of the Via Augusta, the great Roman road from the Pyrenees to Cádiz, about twenty kilometres northeast of Tarragona, and until the road was diverted around it in the late twentieth century, cars and trucks passed under its single span. It was built at the end of the first century BC, and an inscription records that it was erected according to the will of Lucius Licinius Sura, a figure whose identity historians still discuss. It is part of the UNESCO listing for the Roman remains of Tarraco.

   Read the complete Triumphal Arch of Berá write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   Triumphal Arch of Berá, about halfway. Next is The.

5. 5. The

   Just inland from the beach at Altafulla, on the Costa Daurada north of Tarragona, the remains of a grand Roman villa look out over the Mediterranean. This is the Villa dels Munts, one of the finest Roman country houses in Catalonia, built in the first and second centuries AD, with baths, gardens, mosaics and painted walls. It is thought to have belonged to an important citizen of Tarraco, the Roman capital of the province of Hispania Tarraconensis, and it is part of the World Heritage inscription of the Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco, inscribed in 2000. The villa's setting, on a gentle slope above the sea, makes it easy to see why a wealthy Roman would choose it for a retreat.

   Read the complete The write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   The sits at 134 km, about halfway. Next is back through Triumphal Arch of Berá.

6. 6. back through Triumphal Arch of Berá

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Triumphal Arch of Berá write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   back through Triumphal Arch of Berá comes up about 182 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Cova de Vallmajor.

7. 7. back through Cova de Vallmajor

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   Read the complete Cova de Vallmajor write-up.

   Recorded stop-planning note

   May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.

   Planning note

   about 200 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Cova de Vallmajor. Next is back through Roca Roja.

8. 8. back through Roca Roja

   Return visit. Read the place description above.

   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

   back through Roca Roja, late in the day. Next is Barcelona.

9. 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 337 km.