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.
462 km from Cercedilla to San Sebastián de los Reyes, about 7 h 47 of riding. It goes by way of Segovia old town, La Granja palace, Rascafría and Navacerrada Pass. in Campo Real is the high point. It tops out at about 1,350 m. The passes are the reason to go.
32 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it — speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through.
11 km on Segovia old town → La Granja palace.
At 1,858 metres, Puerto de Navacerrada is the pass Madrid runs to when it wants to cool off. It is the crossing between the Madrid and Segovia sides of the Sierra de Guadarrama, and the road, the M-601 on the south side, climbs from Cercedilla and Navacerrada village in a series of tight bends through pine forest before bursting out onto the bare, rocky ridge. At the top there is a small ski area, a few ventas and cafés, a car park that is too small on every sunny weekend, and a view of the high peaks and, in winter, a rather charming scrum of skiers and bikers sharing the same tarmac.
Read the complete Navacerrada Pass write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Navacerrada Pass is where the day begins. Next is Segovia old town.
Segovia announces itself with a Roman aqueduct, and nothing else in Spain quite prepares you for it. Built around the first or second century, the granite blocks are stacked in two tiers of arches without any mortar, and the whole thing strides through the middle of the town like something from a film set. It carried water from the mountains for nearly two thousand years, and in the oldest parts of the city you can still see how it dictated the shape of the streets around it.
Read the complete Segovia old town write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Segovia old town comes up about 28 km into the recorded legs. Next is La Granja palace.
Philip V was a homesick king. Born in France and raised at Versailles, he came to the Spanish throne in 1700 and spent much of his reign longing for the gardens of his childhood, so in the early eighteenth century he built himself a retreat at La Granja de San Ildefonso, on the northern slope of the Sierra de Guadarrama, and filled the grounds with French-style avenues, clipped hedges and an extravagant series of fountains and statues. The result is a baroque palace that looks out on a mountain wall rather than a French plain.
Read the complete La Granja palace write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 39 km into the recorded legs you reach La Granja palace. Next is Rascafría food.
Rascafría is the main village of the upper Lozoya valley, a green, high, glacier-carved trough on the northern side of the Sierra de Guadarrama where the Lozoya river runs down from the peaks. It is a small place, around sixteen hundred people, but it feels bigger than it is because of what surrounds it: the great ridge of Peñalara, the highest summit in the range at a little over two thousand four hundred metres, lies just to the west, and the old pine forests close in on all sides.
Read the complete Rascafría food write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Somewhere to get off the bike, about 80 km into the recorded legs. Next is Back to Navacerrada Pass.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Navacerrada Pass write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Finish at Back to Navacerrada Pass. That is the ride. Next is Sierra de Guadarrama Sweep.
Sierra de Guadarrama Sweep is the fuel stop for this leg. Next is Scenic stretch in Daganzo de Arriba.
about 180 km into the recorded legs you reach Scenic stretch in Daganzo de Arriba. Next is High point in Campo Real.
This is where the road stops climbing. Next is Photo stop near Ciempozuelos.
Photo stop near Ciempozuelos sits at 332 km, about halfway. Next is Sierra de Guadarrama Sweep checkpoint 8.
Sierra de Guadarrama Sweep checkpoint 8 closes the day. Next is Food stop near Navalcarnero.
Navalcarnero has one of the finest arcaded squares in the Madrid region, the Plaza de Segovia, with wooden balconies, stone columns and a lively atmosphere on market days. The town has royal connections too: in the seventeenth century, King Philip IV's wedding to Mariana of Austria was celebrated here, and the house where the event took place is still pointed out. Today it is a busy market town on the southwestern edge of the Madrid metropolitan area.
Read the complete High point near Navalcarnero write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. Next is Madrid / Central Spain return.
Madrid / Central Spain return, late in the day. Next is Back to Sierra.
These are tidy, prosperous commuter towns with business parks, wide roads and a lot of roundabouts. Tres Cantos was a planned new town of the 1970s, a bit of an experiment in suburban living, and it has more green space than you might expect, thanks to the surrounding Monte de Viñuelas and woodland.
Read the complete Sierra write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back to Sierra closes the day.
Navacerrada Pass → Segovia old town is 28 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Segovia old town → La Granja palace is 11 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
La Granja palace → Rascafría food is 41 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Rascafría food → Back to Navacerrada Pass is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Back to Navacerrada Pass → Fuel stop near San Sebastián de los Reyes is 59 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Fuel stop near San Sebastián de los Reyes → Scenic stretch in Daganzo de Arriba is 18 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Scenic stretch in Daganzo de Arriba → High point in Campo Real is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
High point in Campo Real → Photo stop near Ciempozuelos is 44 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Photo stop near Ciempozuelos → Near Getafe is 25 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Food stop near Navalcarnero → Near Guadarrama, on the way back is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.