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.
402 km from Chalchihuites to Chalchihuites, about 7 h 43 of riding. On the way it passes Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret, Sierra de Órganos, Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien and Former hacienda of San Diego de Navacoyán. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,400 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Chalchihuites is a small town in the far west of Zacatecas, on the edge of the Sierra Madre Occidental, and it lies on a stretch of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Road of the Interior Land. Its architectural ensemble, with a parish church and colonial houses around a plaza, is part of the UNESCO listing of the Camino Real. The name comes from the Nahuatl word for jade or greenstone, chalchihuitl, a reference to the turquoise-like stones found in the area, which were prized by the peoples of Mesoamerica.
Read the complete Architectonic ensemble of the Town of Chal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Architectonic ensemble of the Town of Chal is where the day begins. Next is Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret.
Sombrerete is a silver town in the northwest of Zacatecas, founded in the 1550s when Spanish prospectors found rich veins of ore in the hills. The name comes from a hill nearby shaped like a small hat. In the colonial era, Sombrerete's mines produced enormous wealth, and the town grew into an important stop on the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the royal road linking Mexico City with the far north. That wealth built a remarkable collection of churches, convents and mansions, many in the pinkish local stone, and the historic ensemble is part of the UNESCO listing of the Camino Real. The Franciscan convent, the church of Santo Domingo, and the chapel of the Tercera Orden, with its unusual oval plan, are among the highlights. The town has a slightly faded, unhurried atmosphere, far from the tourist crowds of the more famous colonial cities.
Read the complete Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret comes up about 51 km into the recorded legs. Next is Sierra de Órganos.
Pipes of a giant church organ, frozen in stone: that is what the Spanish saw when they named the Sierra de Órganos, a range of rock formations in the north-west of the state of Zacatecas, near the border with Durango. The columns and pinnacles of volcanic rock rise from the high desert, carved by wind and water into strange shapes, and the area is a national park, protected for its geology and its landscape of grassland, oak and pine.
Read the complete Sierra de Órganos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 86 km into the recorded legs you reach Sierra de Órganos. Next is Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien.
Nombre de Dios, in the state of Durango, is a small, dusty town on a dry plateau about a hundred kilometres south-east of the state capital, and it carries the distinction of having been the site of the first Franciscan mission in Durango, founded in the 1550s.
Read the complete Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien, about halfway. Next is Former hacienda of San Diego de Navacoyán.
East of the city of Durango, where the high plateau of northern Mexico stretches flat and wide under a vast sky, the old hacienda of San Diego de Navacoyán stands among irrigated fields and dusty farm roads. Its buildings, with thick adobe walls, a chapel and the remains of the main house, recall the centuries when great landed estates dominated this region, raising cattle, growing wheat and supplying the mining towns of the north. The hacienda is one of the sites listed as part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the Royal Road of the Interior Land, which UNESCO inscribed in 2010. This was the long trade and colonisation route that ran from Mexico City north to Santa Fe in present-day New Mexico, more than two thousand kilometres through deserts and mountains.
Read the complete Former hacienda of San Diego de Navacoyán write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Former hacienda of San Diego de Navacoyán sits at 191 km, about halfway. Next is back through Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien comes up about 254 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Sierra de Órganos.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Sierra de Órganos write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 315 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Sierra de Órganos. Next is back through Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret, late in the day. Next is Architectonic ensemble of the Town of Chal.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Architectonic ensemble of the Town of Chal write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 402 km.
Architectonic ensemble of the Town of Chal → Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret → Sierra de Órganos is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Sierra de Órganos → Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien → Former hacienda of San Diego de Navacoyán is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Former hacienda of San Diego de Navacoyán → back through Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Chapel of San Antonio of the Former hacien → back through Sierra de Órganos is 61 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Sierra de Órganos → back through Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic ensemble of the city of Sombreret → Architectonic ensemble of the Town of Chal is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.