CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
The recorded total and the leg detail need reconciliation. Inspect the leg notes before using this record for timing or navigation. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
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Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
A 501 km round trip from Fgura - roughly 11 h 06 in the saddle. On the way it passes Megalithic Temples of Malta, Scicli, Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto and back through Scicli. It crosses from Malta into Italy - carry ID and check the toll rules. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Beneath a quiet residential street in Paola, a few kilometres south of Valletta, there is a labyrinth carved into the rock about five thousand years ago. The Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is a prehistoric underground sanctuary and burial complex, cut by hand with stone and antler tools into the soft limestone on three levels, with chambers, passages and niches that descend to about ten metres. It was in use from around 3300 BC to 3000 BC, and the remains of thousands of people were found in it when workmen broke into it by accident in 1902, while digging a cistern.
Read the complete Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is where the day begins. Next is Megalithic Temples of Malta.
Before there were pyramids in Egypt, or Stonehenge on its plain, people on a small Mediterranean island were building enormous stone temples, and some of them are still standing. The group at Ġgantija, on the island of Gozo, goes back to roughly 3600 BC, which makes it among the oldest free-standing monuments in the world. The walls are made of huge limestone blocks, some weighing several tonnes, and they curve into rounded chambers like the lobes of a clover leaf. Local legend said they were built by a giantess, and the name comes from the word for giant.
Read the complete Megalithic Temples of Malta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Megalithic Temples of Malta comes up 70 km in. Next is Scicli.
In January 1693 an earthquake flattened much of south-eastern Sicily, and the towns that rose from the rubble were rebuilt in a confident, theatrical late baroque style. Scicli is one of the eight towns of the Val di Noto listed by UNESCO for that reason, and it may be the most charming. It sits at the meeting of three limestone gorges, with a rocky hill above crowned by the ruins of the old church of San Matteo, and a centre of honey-coloured churches and palaces whose balconies are held up by carved grotesque faces, horses, sirens and monsters.
Read the complete Scicli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
139 km in you reach Scicli. Next is Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto.
On 11 January 1693, a catastrophic earthquake struck southeastern Sicily, destroying dozens of towns and killing tens of thousands of people. What happened next is one of the great chapters in the history of town planning. Noto, which stood on a hill some kilometres away, was abandoned, and a new town was built from scratch on a gentler slope, with a grid of streets, grand stairways, churches and palaces, all in the soft, honey-coloured local limestone that glows gold and pink at sunset. Together with seven other towns rebuilt after the earthquake, including Ragusa, Modica and Scicli, Noto was listed by UNESCO in 2002 as the Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto.
Read the complete Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto, about halfway. Next is back through Scicli.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Scicli write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Scicli sits at 279 km, about halfway. Next is back through Megalithic Temples of Malta.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Megalithic Temples of Malta write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Megalithic Temples of Malta comes up 348 km in. Next is Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum closes the day.
Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum → Megalithic Temples of Malta is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Megalithic Temples of Malta → Scicli is 123 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Scicli → Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Late Baroque Towns of the Val di Noto → back through Scicli is 46 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Scicli → back through Megalithic Temples of Malta is 123 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Megalithic Temples of Malta → Ħal Saflieni Hypogeum is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.