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.
471 km from Sopeira to Sopeira, about 8 h 09 of riding. On the way it passes Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció, Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia, Cueva de Revilla and Pyrénées - Mont Perdu. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,000 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It suits an unhurried touring pace.
Expect company on a summer weekend. Early is better than fast. For 19 km this is Ruta del Cares · N-260, a road with a name of its own and a reason for it.
The Balma de les Ovelles, the Sheep's Shelter, lies in the high country where Catalonia meets Aragon, between the valleys of the Noguera Ribagorçana and the Noguera Pallaresa. This is the southern edge of the Pyrenees, a land of limestone ridges, deep gorges, reservoirs and scattered villages, many of them half empty. Rock shelters like this one, used by shepherds and their flocks for thousands of years, are found throughout the region, and some hold traces of prehistoric painting or occupation. The name tells you what it was most recently used for, and the landscape around still carries the sound of sheep bells.
Read the complete Balma de les Ovelles write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Balma de les Ovelles is where the day begins. Next is Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció.
Valleys in the high Pyrenees of Catalonia and Aragon are full of small Romanesque churches, and the area around the Alta Ribagorça is among the richest. They were built in the eleventh and twelfth centuries by craftsmen working in what is called the Lombard style, with plain stone walls, round arches and tall, slender bell towers decorated with blind arcades, and they stand in villages that often have only a few houses.
Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció comes up 33 km in. Next is Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia.
The little Romanesque church of Santa Eulàlia stands at Erill la Vall, one of the villages of the Vall de Boí in the Catalan Pyrenees, and its tall, slim bell tower is a landmark from the road. Together with ten other churches and hermitages in the valley, it was listed by UNESCO in 2000, and the whole group is a small marvel. They were built in the early twelfth century, in a style borrowed from Lombardy, with stout stone walls, round arches and bell towers decorated with blind arcades. Inside, the frescoes that once covered the walls were taken down in the early twentieth century and are now in the museum in Barcelona, while replicas have been placed on site.
Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
66 km in you reach Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia. Next is Cueva de Revilla.
Revilla is one of the most spectacularly placed hamlets in the Spanish Pyrenees, perched on a ledge above the Garganta de Escuaín, a deep gorge cut into the limestone of the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park. It looks down into the canyon from a terrace of meadows, with the high peaks behind. The Cueva de Revilla is a cave in the cliffs near the hamlet, and the area between Bielsa, Plan and Boltaña is some of the wildest country in Aragón.
Read the complete Cueva de Revilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Cueva de Revilla, about halfway. Next is Pyrénées - Mont Perdu.
Monte Perdido, the lost mountain, at 3,355 metres, is the highest limestone massif in Europe and the centrepiece of a cross-border World Heritage site shared by Spain and France. On the Spanish side, it gives its name to the Ordesa y Monte Perdido National Park, with deep canyons radiating out from the summit; on the French side, it looks down on the great cirques of Gavarnie and Troumouse.
Read the complete Pyrénées - Mont Perdu write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Pyrénées - Mont Perdu sits at 133 km, about halfway. Next is back through Cueva de Revilla.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Cueva de Revilla write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Cueva de Revilla comes up 166 km in. Next is back through Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
199 km in you reach back through Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia. Next is back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció, late in the day. Next is Balma de les Ovelles.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Balma de les Ovelles write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 471 km.
Balma de les Ovelles → Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció → Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia → Cueva de Revilla is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Cueva de Revilla → Pyrénées - Mont Perdu is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Pyrénées - Mont Perdu → back through Cueva de Revilla is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Cueva de Revilla → back through Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia is 74 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Eglésia de Santa Eulàlia → back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Eglésia de Santa Maria de l'Assumpció → Balma de les Ovelles is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.