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 437 km round trip from Parque Lefevre - roughly 8 h 17 in the saddle. The stops in between: Colón, Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa, The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá and back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa. A steady touring day rather than a sprint.
A pirate raid ended one city and started another here. Panamá Viejo, the ruins on the shore east of the modern centre, was founded in 1519 by Pedrarias Dávila as the first Spanish settlement on the Pacific coast of the Americas, and for over 150 years it was the staging post where Peruvian silver was loaded for the crossing to the Atlantic. In 1671 the privateer Henry Morgan crossed the isthmus with a force of buccaneers, took the town and left it burning. The Spanish never rebuilt it on the same site.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo is where the day begins. Next is Camino de Cruces Section 1.
West of the Panama Canal's Caribbean end, the land goes quiet surprisingly fast. You cross from the Colón side on the Atlantic Bridge, the long cable-stayed span that finally replaced the old swing bridge and the ferry over the canal entrance, and within minutes the container cranes give way to rainforest, old American base buildings and a narrow road heading north toward the mouth of the Chagres River.
Read the complete Near Colón write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Camino de Cruces Section 1 comes up about 84 km into the recorded legs. Next is Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa.
Columbus named it Puerto Bello, the beautiful harbour, in 1502, and for once a sailor's first impression was right. Portobelo sits on a deep, sheltered bay on Panama's Caribbean coast, backed by steep green hills, and for two centuries it was the point where the wealth of Peru left the New World. Gold and silver came by sea up the Pacific coast to Panama City, crossed the isthmus on mule trails like the Camino de Cruces, and were loaded here onto the Spanish treasure fleets. Every year, a great fair was held, with merchants and soldiers crowding the little port, and prices and diseases both soared.
Read the complete Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 142 km into the recorded legs you reach Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa. Next is The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá.
The Camino Real, the royal road that Spain built across the Isthmus of Panama in the sixteenth century, is the reason this country matters in world history. Gold and silver from Peru were carried by ship to Panama City, loaded on mules and carried over the continental divide to the Caribbean coast, then shipped to Spain. The route had two arms: a paved mule road, the Camino Real, to Portobelo, and a mixed river-and-trail route, the Camino de Cruces, which used the Chagres River for part of the way. Together with the forts that guarded them, the Caribbean forts at Portobelo and San Lorenzo are on the UNESCO list, listed in 1980.
Read the complete The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá, about halfway. Next is back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa sits at 275 km, about halfway. Next is back through Camino de Cruces Section 1.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Near Colón write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Camino de Cruces Section 1 comes up about 354 km into the recorded legs. Next is Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo closes the day.
Archaeological Site of Panamá Viejo → Near Colón is 84 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa → The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá is 77 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
The Colonial Transisthmian Route of Panamá → back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa is 70 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Fortifications on the Caribbean Side of Pa → Near Colón is 65 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.