CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
A proper escape from Madrid with roads worth waking up for. 738 km round from Aranjuez - plan on about 11 h 43 of riding. The stops in between: Scenic stretch near San Martín de Valdeiglesias, in Sangarcía and Torrecuadradilla. The climb of the day is near Toledo. It tops out at about 1,150 m. The line favours views over speed.
Next is High point near Toledo.
Toledo sits inside a nearly closed loop of the Tagus, a granite gorge that makes the old city a natural fortress, and the first sight of it from the ring road is one that few riders forget. The Carretera de Circunvalación runs around the opposite bank, and its lay-bys and viewpoints, especially the Mirador del Valle, give the classic view: the Alcázar and cathedral on the skyline, the Alcántara bridge below, and the river shining in the gorge. El Greco painted that same view in the early seventeenth century, with stormy skies, and it is not hard to see why.
Read the complete High point near Toledo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Scenic stretch near San Martín de Valdeiglesias.
about 149 km into the recorded legs you reach Scenic stretch near San Martín de Valdeiglesias. Next is Photo stop in Sangarcía.
Sangarcía is a small village on the high meseta of Segovia province, in the stretch of pine and farmland that locals call the Tierra de Pinares. At roughly a thousand metres above sea level, the land is flat to gently rolling, with wide fields of cereals, stands of resin pine and big, clear skies. To the south, the Sierra de Guadarrama forms a blue wall on the horizon, often snow-capped in winter and spring.
Read the complete Photo stop in Sangarcía write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Photo stop in Sangarcía, about halfway. Next is Madrid / Central Spain return.
Few places in Western Europe feel as empty as the high plateau of Guadalajara. This stop lies between Torrecuadradilla, Canredondo and Abánades, villages that once held hundreds of people and now count their year-round residents in dozens. The land is a high, rolling plateau of cereal fields, juniper and holm oak, cut by deep river valleys, with huge skies and very little traffic.
Read the complete Near Torrecuadradilla, on the way back write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Madrid / Central Spain return sits at 397 km, about halfway. Next is Food stop near Cifuentes.
Food stop near Cifuentes is where this day stops to eat. Next is Gredos Mountain Weekend checkpoint 8.
Gredos Mountain Weekend checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Back to Gredos Mountain.
Aranjuez is the town where Spain's kings went to get away from Madrid, and it has been laid out like a long, formal garden ever since. The royal palace, begun in the sixteenth century under Philip II and finished in the eighteenth, stands on the banks of the Tajo, surrounded by parks, canals, avenues of plane trees and orchards, and the whole landscape was added to the UNESCO list in 2001. The setting is exceptional: after miles of dry plain, the green of the river valley is a shock.
Read the complete Gredos Mountain write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Back to Gredos Mountain. That is the ride.
This High point near Toledo → Scenic stretch near San Martín de Valdeiglesias stretch is for rhythm and scenery. Keep your head up, let the view breathe, and resist turning every open bend into a target. Stop once properly rather than half-stopping everywhere.
Scenic stretch near San Martín de Valdeiglesias → Photo stop in Sangarcía is the technical section. Hairpins, gradients and mixed traffic can stack up quickly; use low drama inputs, stay wide of centre lines and expect buses or riders appearing exactly where optimism says they will not.
This Photo stop in Sangarcía → Near Torrecuadradilla, on the way back stretch is for rhythm and scenery. Keep your head up, let the view breathe, and resist turning every open bend into a target. Stop once properly rather than half-stopping everywhere.
Food stop near Cifuentes → Near Alcorcón is the logistics leg. Watch junctions, villages and speed changes, then let the roadbook do its job: move you out of the clutter without spending your best attention too early.