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 Tepoztlán it runs 310 km to Tepoztlán; allow about 4 h 28 of riding. On the way it passes Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi, Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji and back through Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,700 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
Tepoztlán sits at the foot of a wall of jagged volcanic cliffs in northern Morelos, and on the highest ridge above town, a small Aztec pyramid, the Tepozteco, dedicated to the god of pulque, clings to the rock. Down in the town, the Dominican convent of the Nativity, built in the mid-sixteenth century, is one of the monasteries on the slopes of Popocatépetl listed by UNESCO in 1994. Its massive church, with a facade carved with angels, the sun and the moon, and a large atrium, is impressive, and the cloister has remains of colourful mural paintings. Part of the convent houses a museum.
Read the complete Ancient Convent of the Nativity write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Ancient Convent of the Nativity is where the day begins. Next is Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi.
In February 1978, electricity workers digging a trench near the Zocalo struck a huge carved stone disc, and the city found out what lay under its feet. The stone showed the dismembered goddess Coyolxauhqui, and it marked the base of the Templo Mayor, the double temple at the heart of Tenochtitlan. That accident changed Mexico City's idea of itself, and the colonial streets around the cathedral have since been opened up to reveal the Aztec capital below. The historic centre and the canals of Xochimilco, to the south, were inscribed together on the World Heritage list in 1987, because between them they tell how a lake civilisation became a colonial city.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi comes up about 78 km into the recorded legs. Next is Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji.
Tepeji del Río is a busy town in the state of Hidalgo, on the old road north from Mexico City, and at its heart stands a sixteenth-century Franciscan convent, one of the many fortress-like monasteries built by the friars in the first decades after the Spanish conquest to evangelise the indigenous population. The church has a sober façade, a large open atrium where crowds of converts once gathered for mass, and a cloister with traces of mural paintings. The convent stands on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, and it is part of the UNESCO listing of that route. Like many of these early convents, it combines European Gothic and Renaissance forms with the work of indigenous craftsmen, whose hand can be seen in the carvings and paintings.
Read the complete Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 153 km into the recorded legs you reach Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji. Next is back through Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi, late in the day. Next is Ancient Convent of the Nativity.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Ancient Convent of the Nativity write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Ancient Convent of the Nativity. That is the ride.
Ancient Convent of the Nativity → Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi is 78 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi → Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji is 75 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji → back through Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi is 76 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Historic Centre of Mexico City and Xochimi → Ancient Convent of the Nativity is 80 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.