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 425 km round trip from Mérida - roughly 7 h in the saddle. It goes by way of Old Town of Cáceres, Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup and back through Old Town of Cáceres. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Speed drops and stays down. Park rather than crawl through. 82 km through ground somebody thought worth listing. The road passes it rather than bypassing it.
Mérida was founded by the Romans in 25 BC as Augusta Emerita, a city for veterans of the Cantabrian wars, and it grew into the capital of the province of Lusitania. Few places in Spain carry their Roman past so openly. The small Alcantarilla bridge on the edge of town is one piece of the Archaeological Ensemble of Mérida, listed by UNESCO in 1993, and its name, from the Arabic for little bridge, tells you how many hands this landscape has passed through. It is a quiet, unassuming structure, and that is a good reason to start here before you tackle the big sights.
Read the complete Alcantarilla Bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Alcantarilla Bridge is where the day begins. Next is Old Town of Cáceres.
Cáceres has an old town so complete that film crews treat it as a ready-made set, and walking its streets at dusk, when the stone glows amber and the crowds have gone, you can see why. Inside the walls, built largely by the Almohads in the twelfth century, are dozens of fortified mansions, towers, churches and palaces, many built by noble families who made their fortunes in the conquest of the Americas. The towers once had battlements, but Queen Isabella ordered most of them cut down to curb the nobles' power. UNESCO listed the old town in 1986.
Read the complete Old Town of Cáceres write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Old Town of Cáceres comes up about 75 km into the recorded legs. Next is Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup.
about 212 km into the recorded legs you reach Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup. Next is back through Old Town of Cáceres.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Old Town of Cáceres write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Old Town of Cáceres, late in the day. Next is Alcantarilla Bridge.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Alcantarilla Bridge write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Alcantarilla Bridge. That is the ride.
Alcantarilla Bridge → Old Town of Cáceres is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Old Town of Cáceres → Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup is 137 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Royal Monastery of Santa María de Guadalup → back through Old Town of Cáceres is 138 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Old Town of Cáceres → Alcantarilla Bridge is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.