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 Ojo de Agua it runs 220 km to Ojo de Agua; allow about 3 h 33 of riding. The stops in between: Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji, Former college of San Francisco Javier in, Historic Centre of Mexico City and Central University City Campus of the Univ. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 2,800 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
Silver came out of the mountains of the north, and everything else came back the other way: wine, cloth, tools, tobacco and soldiers. The Camino Real de Tierra Adentro was the road that carried it all, running from Mexico City to Santa Fe, and it opened in the late sixteenth century and remained in use for roughly three hundred years. It crossed rivers and ravines, and where it did, the Spanish built bridges, a number of which have survived. The bridge of Atongo is one of the stone bridges along the road in the state of Mexico, close to Jilotepec.
Read the complete Bridge of Atongo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Bridge of Atongo is where the day begins. 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.
Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji comes up about 17 km into the recorded legs. Next is Former college of San Francisco Javier in.
Tepotzotlán is a Pueblo Mágico just off the highway north of Mexico City, and its heart is a building that stops you in your tracks. The old Jesuit college of San Francisco Javier was a training centre for the order in New Spain, a place where novices learned theology and native languages before being sent out across the colony. When the Jesuits were expelled in 1767 the college passed to others, and today it houses the National Museum of the Viceroyalty, one of the best collections of colonial art in the country. It also forms part of the Camino Real de Tierra Adentro, the silver road that ran north from the capital towards Santa Fe, inscribed by UNESCO in 2010.
Read the complete Former college of San Francisco Javier in write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 48 km into the recorded legs you reach Former college of San Francisco Javier in. Next is Historic Centre of Mexico City.
The Zócalo, the vast main square of Mexico City, is one of the largest public squares in the world, and standing in it you are at the centre of over seven hundred years of history. This was the heart of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, built on an island in Lake Texcoco and home to perhaps two hundred thousand people when the Spanish arrived in 1519. After the conquest, Hernán Cortés's men built their new city directly on top of the ruins, using the stones of the temples to construct churches and palaces. The historic centre, together with the canals of Xochimilco to the south, was listed by UNESCO in 1987.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Mexico City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Historic Centre of Mexico City, about halfway. Next is Central University City Campus of the Univ.
The main campus of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, known as Ciudad Universitaria, is one of the great architectural achievements of the twentieth century. Built between 1949 and 1952 on a field of lava from the ancient eruption of the Xitle volcano, in the south of Mexico City, it brought together dozens of architects, engineers and artists to create a modern campus that would blend international modernism with Mexican traditions. Its most famous building is the Central Library, a tall block covered entirely in a mosaic by Juan O'Gorman, depicting the history of Mexico from pre-Hispanic times to the modern era. UNESCO listed the campus in 2007.
Read the complete Central University City Campus of the Univ write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Central University City Campus of the Univ sits at 114 km, about halfway. Next is back through Historic Centre of Mexico City.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Historic Centre of Mexico City write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Historic Centre of Mexico City comes up about 133 km into the recorded legs. Next is back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Former college of San Francisco Javier in write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 173 km into the recorded legs you reach back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in. Next is back through Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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.
back through Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji, late in the day. Next is Bridge of Atongo.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Bridge of Atongo write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
The route ends here after 220 km.
Bridge of Atongo → Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji → Former college of San Francisco Javier in is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Former college of San Francisco Javier in → Historic Centre of Mexico City is 50 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Historic Centre of Mexico City → Central University City Campus of the Univ is 16 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Central University City Campus of the Univ → back through Historic Centre of Mexico City is 19 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Historic Centre of Mexico City → back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in is 40 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Former college of San Francisco Javier in → back through Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji is 31 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Former convent of San Francisco in Tepeji → Bridge of Atongo is 17 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.