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.
From Vilafranca del Penedès it runs 252 km to Vilafranca del Penedès; allow about 4 h 22 of riding. The stops in between: Cova de Vallmajor, Aqueduct, Abric de la Serra de la mussara and back through Aqueduct. The line favours views over speed.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric de Can Ximet is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cova de Vallmajor comes up about 31 km into the recorded legs. Next is Aqueduct.
The Pont del Diable, the Devil's Bridge, is not a bridge for people. It is a Roman aqueduct, a tall, two-tiered stone arcade that carried water to Tarraco, modern Tarragona, from the Francolí river, about fifteen kilometres away. It spans a small valley near the road to Constantí, two hundred metres long and about twenty-seven metres high at its tallest point, built of big dressed stones without mortar, and it has stood for roughly two thousand years. UNESCO included it in the Archaeological Ensemble of Tarraco in 2000.
Read the complete Aqueduct write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Aqueduct. Next is Abric de la Serra de la mussara.
Climb out of Reus on a clear morning and the Serra de la Mussara rises ahead like a wall, a limestone escarpment that holds up the edge of the Prades plateau and drops steeply to the plain of the Camp de Tarragona. The rock shelters along this cliff line, close to the village of Vilaplana, are part of the prehistoric painted landscape of eastern Spain. The best reason to stop, though, is the view: on a good day you look straight down over hazelnut orchards and olive groves to Reus, Tarragona and the sea.
Read the complete Abric de la Serra de la mussara write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric de la Serra de la mussara, about halfway. Next is back through Aqueduct.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Aqueduct write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Aqueduct sits at 114 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cova de Vallmajor.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cova de Vallmajor write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cova de Vallmajor comes up about 221 km into the recorded legs. Next is Abric de Can Ximet.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Abric de Can Ximet write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Abric de Can Ximet closes the day.
Abric de Can Ximet → Cova de Vallmajor is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Cova de Vallmajor → Aqueduct is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Aqueduct → Abric de la Serra de la mussara is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Abric de la Serra de la mussara → back through Aqueduct is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Aqueduct → back through Cova de Vallmajor is 43 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cova de Vallmajor → Abric de Can Ximet is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.